UC-NRLF 


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EXCHANGE 


OLD-AGE  SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN 
TEACHERS 


PROVISIONS  FOR  OLD  AGE  MADE  BY 

WOMEN  TEACHERS  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

OF  MASSACHUSETTS 


A  STUDY  BY 

THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  RESEARCH  OP  THE 

WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNION 

LUCILE  EAVES,  PH.D.,  DIRECTOR 


STUDIES  IN  ECONOMIC  RELATIONS  OF  WOMEN 

VOLUME  XI 

BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 

1921 


Copyright,  1921,  by  the 
WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNION 

Boston,  Mass. 


;V      ,V   5    "•  V  f 

.  i .  i  (     <    •    L   > 


SPARTAN  PRESS  INC.,   BOSTON 


OLD-AGE  SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

A  STUDY  OF  PROVISIONS  FOR  OLD  AGE  MADE   BY 

WOMEN  TEACHERS  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

INTRODUCTION 

This  account  of  the  provisions  for  old-age  support  made  by 
Massachusetts  school  teachers,  and  of  their  conditions  of  living 
during  the  period  after  retirement  from  active  services,  is  a  pre- 
liminary report  of  a  co-operative  investigation  in  which  it  is  hoped 
to  enlist  groups  of  students,  teachers  and  college  graduates  in 
many  parts  of  the  country.  The  undertaking  was  launched  in 
December,  1919,  when,  on  the  recommendation  of  its  Research 
Committee,  the  American  Sociological  Society  authorized  a  con- 
tinuation of  its  earlier  efforts  to  promote  a  more  definite  focusing 
of  the  research  activities  of  its  members.1  The  need  of  the  results 
of  sound,  inductive  studies  as  a  basis  for  activities  by  which  the 
civilized  world  might  retrieve  some  of  the  losses  of  the  war;  the 
difficulties  of  obtaining  the  financial  support  required  for  social 
research  with  the  assistance  of  paid  field  workers;  the  waste  of 
effort  involved  in  the  directing  of  students  in  innumerable  minor 
investigations  whose  value  must  be  slight  because  of  necessary 
limitations  in  scope;  and  the  example  of  the  National  Research 
Council's  plans  for  the  promotion  of  co-operative  research  in  the 
natural  sciences,  all  supplied  potent  arguments  in  support  of  the 
suggestion  that  members  of  the  Sociological  Society  should  be 
invited  to  co-operate  in  a  centrally  directed  study  whose  results 
could  be  based  on  a  mass  of  facts  sufficient  to  give  validity  to  gen- 
eralizations and  to  justify  the  heavy  costs  of  publication. 

The  superior  facilities  for  conducting  such  an  investigation  sup- 
plied by  the  Research  Department  of  the  Women's  Educational 
and  Industrial  Union  of  Boston,  prompted  the  recommendation 
that  its  director  be  authorized  to  supervise,  and  prepare  the  final 
report  of,  the  first  experimental  effort  at  co-operative  social  re- 

^Articles  telling  of  the  plans  for  this  and  similar  co-operative  investigations  were  printed  in 
*^ American  Journal  of  Sociology,  March,  1920,  p.  568,  and  in  the  Journal  of  the  Association 
of  Collegiate  Alumnae,  March  and  April,  1920,  p.  14. 


454672 


SUPPOKT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

search.  The  subject,  "How  Self-Supporting  Women  May  Provide 
For  Their  Old  Age,"  was  suggested  because  this  topic  seemed 
adapted  to  the  group  of  full-time  investigators  who  would  work 
under  Miss  Eaves'  personal  supervision  and,  at  the  same  time, 
was  of  sufficient,  general  interest  to  appeal  to  students  and  women 
college  graduates  in  all  sections  of  the  country.  Its  varied  social 
significance  is  shown  by  the  tentative  generalizations  of  the  final 
chapter  of  the  present  report.  There  will  be  many  opportunities 
for  lively  debates  in  any  group  enlisting  in  the  study  of  such  a  topic! 

The  American  Association  of  University  Women  (formerly  the 
Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnae)  has  joined  with  the  Sociologi- 
cal Society  in  the  effort  to  promote  co-operative  social  research. 
A  national  research  committee  has  been  organized  and  local  com- 
mittees are  being  established  in  many  branches.  Five  of  these 
committees  are  now  enlisted  in  this  first  co-operative  study,  and 
no  doubt  other  branches  will  be  ready  to  contribute  to  the  under- 
taking during  the  coming  year.  The  gathering  of  facts  which  can 
be  published  in  reports  furnishing  a  scientific  foundation  for  con- 
structive betterment  activities  is  a  fitting  service  for  organiza- 
tions of  women  graduates  of  universities,  and  it  seems  probable 
that  co-operative  social  research  may  become  an  important  part  of 
the  activities  of  the  newly  reorganized  Association. 

Contributions  to  the  present  study  of  old-age  provision  by  self- 
supporting  women  may  be  made  in  three  ways: 

First,  individuals  who  read  this  preliminary  discussion  may  send 
information  about  their  own  or  their  friends  experiences  which  is  like 
that  embodied  in  this  report,  and  so  suitable  for  incorporation  in  the 
final  presentation  of  the  results  of  the  co-operative  investigation. 

Second,  any  group  of  students  or  self-supporting  women  may 
read  this  report  of  the  experiences  of  Massachusetts  teachers  and 
discuss  carefully  the  questions  presented  in  its  summary  chapter. 
The  results  of  such  debates  will  have  much  scientific  value  since 
they  will  be  based  on  varied  experiences  in  many  sections  of  the 
country.  A  secretary  should  summarize  the  conclusions  reached 
and  her  report  should  be  submitted  for  endorsement  by  the  group 
before  it  is  forwarded  to  Boston  for  use  in  the  final  volume. 

Third,  groups  of  university  graduates  or  students  may  make 
studies  of  teachers  or  of  other  self-supporting  women  similar  in 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  5 

scope  to  those  made  in  the  Research  Department  of  the  Women's 
Educational  and  Industrial  Union  of  Boston.  Assistance  in  such 
investigations  will  be  given  by  Miss  Eaves  or  by  sociology  pro- 
fessors in  neighboring  universities. 

Additional  reports  dealing  with  older  women  employed  in  Boston 
retail  stores,  with  workers  in  Lynn  boot  and  shoe  factories,  and  with 
the  records  of  insurance  companies,  are  available  for  the  guidance  of 
co-operating  investigators.  The  results  of  their  studies  may  be  pub- 
lished in  local  papers  and  then  forwarded  to  Boston  for  use  in  the 
summary  of  findings  which  may  thus  be  made  national  in  scope. 

This  preliminary  report  is  an  exemplification  of  the  policies 
which  we  wish  to  promote  in  the  investigations  of  wider  scope. 
Many  persons  contributed  the  facts  presented  in  the  tables  and 
charts.  We  avail  ourselves  of  this  opportunity  to  extend  hearty 
thanks  to  the  school  officials  who  assisted  our  field  workers  by 
supplying  records  or  by  arranging  opportunities  for  interviews; 
to  tired  teachers  who  remained  after  school  hours  in  order  to  an- 
swer questions  which  seemed  somewhat  personal;  to  correspond- 
ents from  many  parts  of  the  state  who  wrote  delightful  letters 
giving  us  the  benefit  of  their  experiences;  and  to  officials  in  charge 
of  the  records  of  the  Boston  and  the  Massachusetts  Teachers' 
Retirement  Funds.  The  four  fellows  of  the  Research  Depart- 
ment, working  under  my  direction,  visited  the  retired  Boston 
teachers,  copied  records  and  prepared  the  tables  and  charts.  We 
co-operated  in  the  preparation  of  the  outline  of  topics  to  be  dis- 
cussed in  the  final  report,  and  then  divided  the  labors  of  literary 
presentation  in  the  manner  suggested  by  the  names  attached  to 
the  different  chapters  of  the  book.  In  order  to  give  greater  unity 
to  the  final  report  and  to  bring  the  material  within  the  limits  of 
our  resources  for  publication,  some  editing  and  revising  of  these 
chapters  have  been  necessary.  Miss  Caroline  E.  Heermann,  my 
research  assistant,  has  verified  our  tables  and  copied  our  manu- 
scripts. If  groups  of  investigators  in  other  parts  of  the  country 
will  combine  varied  talents  in  promoting  similar  studies,  the  final 
outcome  of  our  experiment  in  co-operative  research  will  be  a 
volume  of  great  interest  and  of  general  significance. 

Lucile  Eaves,  Director  Research  Department, 

Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  3-5 

BY  LUCILE  EAVES 

CHAPTER  I— PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  AND 

LENGTH  OF  SERVICE  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

BY  ELNA  ANDERSON 

Sources   of   information — Characteristics   of   the   group   studied — 

Length  of  service.  11-23 

CHAPTER  II— ECONOMIC  STATUS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 
WOMEN  TEACHERS  WHILE  IN  ACTIVE  SERVICE 

BY  MABEL  A.  STRONG 

Salary  schedules  by  types  of  schools — Uses  made  of  earnings — 
Amounts  spent  for  board  and  room — Investments  for  further 
education  and  travel — Support  of  dependents — Expenditures 
for  health — Supplementary  sources  of  income — Part-time 
work — Aid  from  relatives — Inheritances — Savings  and  their 
investments — Age  periods  when  savings  were  made — Methods  of 
investing  savings — Plans  for  saving — Conclusions.  24-38 

CHAPTER  III— RESOURCES  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  WOMEN 
TEACHERS  AT  THE  TIME  OF  RETIREMENT 

BY  ALICE  CHANNING 

History  of  teachers'  pensions  in  Massachusetts — Voluntary  mutual 
benefit  societies — Massachusetts  Annuity  Guild — First  legisla- 
tion establishing  the  Boston  Teachers'  Retirement  Fund  Asso- 
ciation in  1900 — Legislation  providing  publicly  supported  pen- 
sion systems — Boston  pension  acts  of  1908  and  1910 — Massachu- 
setts state  pension  system — Comparison  of  the  Boston  and 
State  systems — Amounts  of  pensions  received — Disability  al- 
lowances of  Boston  and  State  teachers — Amount  necessary  to 
supplement  pensions — Savings  as  a  resource  for  after-retirement 
support — Value  of  savings  measured  in  annuities — Reasons  for 
small  amounts  saved — Large  savings  of  exceptional  women — 
Total  income  received  by  Boston  teachers  from  earnings  and 
pensions — Sources  from  which  incomes  from  earnings  are  supple- 
mented— Conclusions  39-62 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  7 

PAGE 

CHAPTER   IV— OLD-AGE   LIVING   CONDITIONS   OF 
RETIRED  BOSTON  TEACHERS 

BY  SARAH  LOUISE  PROCTOR 

Probable  length  of  life  after  retirement — What  becomes  of  the  teacher 
after  retirement — Living  arrangements — Dependents — Extent 
of  financial  independence — Old  or  young  companions — General 
social  interests — Part-time  work — General  valuation  of  the  old- 
age  life  of  teachers.  63-84 

CHAPTER  V— QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  BY  CO- 
OPERATING   INVESTIGATORS 

BY  LUCILE  EAVES 

1.  What  proportion  of  the  teachers  depend  on  their  own  exertions 

for  means  of  support  after  retirement  from  active  services? 

2.  Would  it  be  reasonable  to  maintain  that,  during  the  period  of 

gainful  employment,  a  self-supporting  woman  should  make 
the  portion  of  her  old-age  provision  which  a  well-planned  life 
would  assign  to  those  years? 

3.  Is  it  probable  that  the  unmarried  women  of  the  family  will  ac- 

cept an  increasing  burden  of  responsibility  for  the  care  of 
its  dependents? 

4.  How  will  these  altruistic  services  affect  their  ability  to  make 

necessary  provision  for  old-age  incapacity? 

5.  What  forms  of  old-age  insurance  are  best  adapted  to  the  needs 

of  self-supporting  women? 

6.  When  should  teachers  begin  setting  aside  savings  for  old  age? 

7.  What  forms  of  investment  are  best  suited  to  the  needs  of  teach- 

ers? 

8.  How  may  teachers  co-operate  in  making  provision  for  old  age? 

9.  What  avocations  are  suited  to  the  period  after  retirement? 
10.    What  personal  and  social  adjustments  have  been  found  to  pro- 
mote the  happiness  of  retired  teachers  or  other  older  pro- 
fessional women?  85-100 

APPENDIX 

Care  of  Older  Women  Employes  by  Boston  Retail  Stores.  Statis- 
tical Tables  Cited  in  the  Text.  List  of  Unpublished  Sta- 
tistical Tables.  Schedules .  101-120 


8  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 


LIST  OF  CHARTS 

CHART  PAGE 

I.  Ages  of  Retirement  of  Boston  Women  Teachers,  1908-1920       .     .  15 

II.  Ages  of  Retirement  of  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers,  1914-1920  17 

III.  Length  of  Service  of  Boston  Teachers,  1900-1920 23 

IV.  Methods  of  Spending  Margin  of  Income  Above  Cost  of  Necessities 

During  Definite  Age  Periods,  by  Active  Massachusetts  Women 

Teachers 29 

V.     Percentage  Distribution  of  After-Retirement  Allowances  Received 

by  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers 49 

VI.     Relative  Standards  of  Living  of  Boston  Retired  Teachers     ...     67 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


LIST  OF  TABLES 

TABLE  PAGE 

1.  Ages  of  Retirement  of  Boston  Women  Teachers,  1908-1920     ...  14 

2.  Ages  of  Retirement  of  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers,  1914-1920    .  16 

3.  Condition  of  Faculties  of  115  Retired  Boston  Teachers    ....  18 

4.  Length  of  Service  of  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers  Prior  to  Sep- 

tember 1,  1919 19 

5.  Length  of  Service  of  Retired  Boston  Women  Teachers     ....  19 

6.  Length  of  Service  of  Retired  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers    .      .  20 

7.  Length  of  Service  in  Boston  Schools  of  Women  Teachers  as  Indi- 

cated by  Changes  Noted  at  Five- Year  Intervals  in  the  Names 
Registered  in  the  Boston  Educational  Directory — Percentages 
(Numbers  in  Table  22)  22 

8.  Amounts  of  Earnings  Remaining  to  Massachusetts  Teachers  after 

the  Average  Cost  of  Board  and  Room  has  been  Deducted  from  the 
Average  Salary 27 

9.  The  Age  Periods  Covered  in  Reports  of  Experiences  Furnished  by 

190  Active  Massachusetts  Teachers 28 

10.  Average  Savings  of  Active  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers  in  Given 

Age  Periods 33 

1 1 .  Forms  of  Investment  Reported  by  174  Active  Massachusetts  Women 

Teachers 35 

12.  City  of  Boston  Pensions  to  which  Retired  Teachers  are  Entitled  .      .     46 

13.  Total  Pensions  from  all  Sources  Received  by  a  Sample  Group  of  Re- 

tired Boston  Women  Teachers 50 

14.  Funds  Accumulated  from  Savings  by  a  Sample  Group  of  Boston  Re- 

tired Teachers 53 

15.  Annual  Incomes  of  Retired  Boston  Teachers  from  Pensions  and  Sav- 

ings from  Salaries      57 

16.  Number  of  Years  Intervening  Between  Retirement  and  Death  of 

Women  Teachers  Based  on  Records  of  the  Teachers'  Retirement 
Association,  1900-1920 65 

17.  Living  Arrangements  of  Retired  Boston  Women  Teachers       ...     70 

18.  Dependents  Cared  for  by  Retired  Boston  Women  Teachers        .      .     71 

19.  Nature  of  the  Relationship  of  Dependents  Cared  for  by  Boston 

Women  Teachers  and  the  Kind  of  Help  Rendered 72 

20.  Occupations  of  Retired  Boston  Women  Teachers  80 


10  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

TABLE  PAGE 

21.  Length  of  Service  of  190  Active  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers 

(Sample  Group  for  whom  Schedules  were  Obtained)     ....  109 

22.  Length  of  Service  in  Boston  Schools  of  Women  Teachers  as  Indicated 

by  Changes  Noted  at  Five- Year  Intervals  in  the  Names  Registered 
in  the  Boston  Educational  Directory — Numbers  (Percentages  in 
Table  7)  .  ' 109 

23.  Age  Periods  when  Active  Massachusetts  Teachers  Reported  Ex- 

penditures for  Prof  essional  Advancement       110 

24.  Age  Periods  when  147  Active  Massachusetts  Teachers  Had  Depend- 

ents  110 

25.  Age  Periods  when   174  Active  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers 

Made  Savings Ill 

26.  Age  Periods  when  174  Active  Women  Teachers  Made  Investments  111 

27.  Amount  of  Support  Given  to  Dependents  by  147  Active  Massachu- 

setts Women  Teachers 112 

28.  Methods  by  which  Active  Massachusetts  Teachers  Supplemented 

Their  Salaries 112 

29.  Savings  of  Active  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers 113 

30.  Annual  Allowances  Paid  from  the  Massachusetts  Teachers'  Retire- 

ment Fund,  1914-1920 113 

31.  After  Retirement  Allowances  Received  by  Massachusetts  Women 

Teachers 114 

32.  Pension  Received  from  City  of  Boston  by  a  Sample  Group  of  Retired 

Boston  Women  Teachers 114 

33.  Expectation  of  Life  of  Women  at  Different  Ages  Based  on  The  Ameri- 

can Experience  Table  Mortality  Rates 115 

34.  Ages  at  Death  of  Retired  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers  1914- 

1920    .  .  115 


PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  LENGTH  OF 

SERVICE  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS  OF 

MASSACHUSETTS 

CHAPTER  I 

Sources  of  Information 

The  statistical  background  for  this  study  of  the  old-age  support 
of  Massachusetts  school  teachers  was  furnished  by  the  following 
public  records  and  reports :  The  Massachusetts  Teachers'  Retire- 
ment Association,  the  Boston  Teachers'  Retirement  Fund  Associa- 
tion, the  reports  of  the  Boston  Teachers7  Mutual  Benefit  Associa- 
tion, the  Massachusetts  Annuity  Guild,  the  Boston  Teachers' 
Relief  Fund,  the  reports  of  the  Boston  School  Committee,  the  re- 
port of  the  Massachusetts  Special  Commission  on  Teachers' 
Salaries  (1920),  the  report  of  the  Massachusetts  Commission 
on  Pensions  (1914),  and  the  report  of  the  Joint  Special  Com- 
mittee on  Pensions  (1921). 

In  order  to  give  life  to  the  study,  personal  visits  were  made  to 
about  150  Boston  active  and  retired  teachers.  School  officials  and 
officers  of  the  various  teachers'  organizations  were  consulted  to 
learn  the  history  of  the  efforts  to  provide  for  a  comfortable  old  age 
and  to  obtain  details  of  the  various  pension  plans.  Visits  to  the 
teachers  were  time-consuming,  since  only  one  or  two  could  be  inter- 
viewed in  each  visit  made  after  the  close  of  school,  and  so  it  was 
decided  to  complete  the  collection  of  data  by  correspondence. 
About  1500  letters  and  questionnaires  were  sent  to  Boston  and 
Massachusetts  women  teachers  who  had  served  for  fifteen  years  or 
more.  One  hundred  and  eighty-five  letters  were  sent  to  Boston 
retired  teachers  who  could  not  be  reached  by  personal  visits.  As 
is  commonly  the  experience  of  investigators,  only  a  small  per  cent 
(13)  responded.  Some  of  these  replies  were  incomplete  but  gave 
interesting  bits  of  information  which  have  been  used  in  the  general 
discussions.  Three  hundred  and  five  schedules  were  sufficiently 
complete  for  tabulation.  This  number  included  115  retired  Boston 
teachers  and  190  active  teachers  of  whom  105  were  state  and  85 
were  Boston  teachers. 


12  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

Characteristics  of  the  Group  Studied 

Undoubtedly  New  England  traditions  have  been  preserved  more 
completely  in  Massachusetts  because  of  the  influence  of  its  public 
school  teachers.  More  than  90  per  cent  of  the  Massachusetts 
teachers  who  were  studied  and  80  per  cent  of  their  mothers  and 
fathers  were  natives  of  New  England.  The  fact  that  so  many 
teachers  have  continued  to  live  in  their  home  towns  with  their 
families  may  be  an  explanation  of  their  willingness  to  accept  the 
low  salaries  which  have  been  characteristic  of  New  England 
schools.  Of  the  teachers  who  were  not  natives  of  New  England, 
only  2  per  cent  were  foreign  born  and  less  than  20  per  cent  of  their 
parents  were  foreign  born.  Practically  all  of  these  foreign  born 
teachers  and  parents  came  from  England  or  some  of  the  British 
possessions.  There  may  be  subtle  variations  by  nativities  in  devo- 
tion to  family,  willingness  to  make  sacrifices  for  relatives  and  natu- 
ral ability  to  save  for  old  age,  but  the  data  obtained  in  the  course 
of  this  investigation  are  not  sufficiently  complete  for  such  generali- 
zations. 

Practically  all  of  the  group  studied  were  unmarried.  Of  the  190 
active  teachers,  182  were  single,  5  married  and  3  widowed.  Of  the 
115  Boston  retired  teachers,  103  were  single,  1  married,  1  divorced 
and  10  widowed.  The  fact  that  93  per  cent  of  the  teachers  had 
never  assumed  the  responsibilities  of  married  life  does  not  imply 
that  these  women  were  free  from  family  cares.  It  will  be  shown 
later  in  the  discussion  that  they  had  many  family  responsibilities 
which  lessened  seriously  their  ability  to  accumulate  savings  for 
use  after  retirement  from  active  service. 

Massachusetts  teachers  are  a  well-trained  group  of  professional 
women.  Of  those  whose  records  were  studied  in  the  course  of  this 
investigation,  practically  all  were  high  school  graduates.  About 
three-fifths  of  the  active  teachers  and  more  than  two-fifths  of  the 
retired  teachers  were  graduates  of  normal  schools;  one-fifth  of  the 
active  teachers  were  college  or  university  graduates ;  and  a  few  had 
advanced  degrees  or  had  attended  graduate  schools.  Education 
tends  to  raise  the  standard  of  living,  as  it  develops  a  taste  for  such 
things  as  travel,  books  and  good  music.  It  will  be  seen  readily 
that  the  living  conditions  of  teachers  must  be  better  than  those  of 
many  groups  of  working  women,  and  that,  in  order  to  insure  their 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  13 

happiness  after  retirement,  there  should  be  no  serious  decline  from 
the  standards  to  which  they  have  become  accustomed. 

A  discussion  of  the  health  of  teachers  is  limited  by  the  lack  of 
general  morbidity  statistics,  making  comparisons  impossible. 
Some  interesting  facts  were  brought  out  by  the  investigation,  how- 
ever. Teaching  is  an  arduous  occupation  which  demands  the  best 
that  the  teacher  has  to  give.  On  the  other  hand,  one  would  expect 
teachers  to  understand  the  fundamentals  of  the  care  of  health, 
and  they  have  long  vacations  for  recuperation.  Both  points  of 
view  were  impressed  upon  the  investigators  who  visited  the  Boston 
retired  teachers.  Some  of  the  teachers  were  found  to  be  worn  out 
by  long  service;  others  were  vigorous  in  spite  of  advanced  years. 
An  illustration  of  the  latter  case  was  Miss  Z,  who  was  eighty-six 
years  old  when  interviewed.  Her  life  had  been  one  of  unusual 
activity  in  her  profession  and  of  service  to  her  friends  and  rela- 
tives, and  her  health  had  always  been  excellent.  She  advised  other 
teachers  "to  work — and  live  simply."  Of  the  115  retired  teachers 
studied,  45  reported  good  health,  43  average  and  27  poor.  Dis- 
eases of  the  nervous  system  were  the  most  frequent  of  the  ailments 
reported. 

No  accurate  data  could  be  obtained  to  show  the  number  of 
teachers  retiring  for  disability,  because  "length  of  service"  is  re- 
corded whenever  possible  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of  a  medical 
examination  which  is  required  of  invalidity  annuitants  under  the 
regulations  of  the  Boston  Retirement  Fund.  Some  idea  of  the 
number  of  those  retiring  for  disability  may  be  gained  by  noting 
the  ages  of  retirement.  It  is  unnatural  that  a  teacher  should  wish 
to  leave  her  profession  within  a  few  years  of  the  age  when  she 
could  retire  with  a  full  pension,  unless  she  is  incapacitated  in  some 
way.  The  recent  report  of  the  Joint  Special  Committee  on  Pen- 
sions1 shows  that  of  the  teachers  retiring  under  the  provisions  of 
the  Boston  pension  system,  about  one-third  retired  before  the  age 
of  sixty,  one-half  before  sixty-five  and  about  three-fourths  before 
seventy.  Table  1. 

ipp.  144-153. 


14 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


TABLE     1.      AGES     OF     RETIREMENT     OF    BOSTON    WOMEN 
TEACHERS.1    1908-1920 


AGES 

Teachers  of  Ages  Specified 
who  Retired  in  1908  to  1920 

Number 

Per  Cent 

Total,    

242 
84 
37 
58 
632 

100.0 
34.7 
15.3 
24.0 
26.0 

Under  60  years,     

60  to  64  years, 

65  to  69  years,       
70  to  74  years,       

iData  taken  from  Report  of  the  Joint  Special  Committee  on  Pensions  (1921),  pp.  144-153. 
Sixty  teachers  who  retired  under  special  provision  are  omitted.     Mass.  Acts  of  1910,  Chap. 
617. 

*Forty-nine  teachers  (20.2  per  cent)  retired  at  the  age  of  70. 

Many  of  the  retired  teachers  retained  full  possession  of  their 
faculties  as  is  shown  by  Table  3. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 


15 


tt.2 

o  u 


8 


?    ? 


2     2    ID     o 


16 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 


TABLE  2.    AGES  OF  RETIREMENT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  WOMEN 
TEACHERS.      1914-1920 


AGES 

Number  of  Teachers  of  Ages  Specified 
Who  Retired  in  1914-1920 

Total 
1914- 
1920 

1914 

1915 

1916 

1917 

1918 

1919 

1920 

All  ages, 

4151 

114 

52 

48 

66 

56 

54 

25 

Under  60  years, 

33 

— 

— 

— 

10 

14 

7 

2 

60,  .     . 

62 

9 

7 

9 

18 

8 

10 

1 

61,.     . 

38 

9 

7 

5 

3 

3 

8 

3 

62,  .     . 

30 

12 

1 

4 

6 

2 

1 

4 

63,.     . 

25 

8 

1 

4 

3 

5 

2 

2 

64,.     . 

25 

1 

9 

5 

3 

4 

2 

1 

65,.     . 

25 

7 

6 

3 

2 

5 

1 

1 

66,  .     . 

19 

2 

3 

6 

— 

— 

5 

3 

67,.     . 

21 

7 

1 

2 

5 

3 

3 

— 

68,.     . 

15 

9 

2 

3 

— 

1 

— 

— 

69,.     . 

27 

7 

2 

1 

5 

6 

4 

2 

70,.     . 

58 

9 

10 

6 

11 

5 

11 

6 

71-75,  . 

28 

25 

3 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Over    75  years, 

9 

9 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

iFifty-nine  retired  teachers  who  have  died  are  included  in  this  table. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


17 


O         ID         O 

m        •*        ^* 


18  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

TABLE  3.    CONDITION  OF  FACULTIES  OF  115  RETIRED  BOSTON 

TEACHERS 


Number  of  Teachers  Reporting 
Faculties  as  Specified; 

Sound 

Impaired 

Total,    ...      c     .... 

67 
91 

91 

98 

481 
24 
24 
17 

Hearing,      
Sight,     
Memory,     

lOne  mentally  unbalanced  and  1  speech  impaired. 

Superior  qualities  of  character  of  the  retired  and  older  active 
teachers  impressed  the  investigators  during  their  visits.  The  high- 
mindedness  of  these  teachers,  devotion  to  their  profession,  a  beau- 
tiful self-sacrificing  spirit  toward  relatives  and  friends  who  needed 
their  help,  and  a  sweet,  wholesome  view  of  life  were  met  with  daily. 
Surely  the  generation  of  children  who  have  been  privileged  to 
come  under  the  influence  of  these  superior  women  have  profited 
by  such  an  experience!  Does  the  present  generation  of  school 
children  come  under  the  guidance  of  as  fine  a  type  of  teachers  as 
has  that  of  the  past — is  a  question  which  each  community  should 
consider.  The  question  was  raised  during  the  investigation: 
"Were  the  exceptionally  pleasing  characteristics  of  the  retired 
teachers  the  results  of  superior  birth  and  breeding,  or  the  product 
of  the  discipline  of  a  long  life  of  unselfish  efforts  for  others?" 

Length  of  Service 

Contrary  to  popular  assumption,  a  large  number  of  women 
make  teaching  their  life  work.  Ten  per  cent  of  the  Massachusetts 
teachers  in  service  January  1,  1920,  had  taught  thirty  or  more 
years  and  nearly  40  per  cent  had  taught  fifteen  or  more  years. 
Table  4.  About  75  per  cent  of  the  retired  Boston  teachers  and 
nearly  80  per  cent  of  the  state  retired  teachers  served  in  the  pro- 
fession for  more  than  thirty  years.  Tables  4  and  5. 

Many  teachers  give  years  of  service  to  one  community.  Nearly 
two-fifths  of  the  Massachusetts  teachers  have  served  for  ten  or 
more  years  in  the  city  or  town  where  they  are  now  employed. 
About  three-fifths  of  the  Boston  teachers  have  served  in  that  city 
for  ten  or  more  years.  Tables  7  and  22.  This  condition  has 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


19 


TABLE  4.     LENGTH  OF  SERVICE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  WOMEN 
TEACHERS  PRIOR  TO  SEPTEMBER  1,  19191 


YEARS  OF  EXPERIENCE 

Number  of  Teachers  whose  Years  of 
Service  Were  as  Specified: 

Number 

Per  Cent 

Total,     
None,           

17,442 
698 
304 
3,886 
3,497 
2,424 
2,106 
1,563 
1,226 
1,341 
397 

100. 
4.0 
1.7 

22.3 
20.1 
13.9 
12.1 
9.0 
7.0 
7.7 
2.3 

Less  than  1  year, 

1  year  and  less  than  5, 

5  years  and  less  than  10,        .... 
10  years  and  less  than  15,      .... 
15  years  and  less  than  20,      .... 
20  years  and  less  than  25,      .... 
25  years  and  less  than  30,      .... 

30  years  and  less  than  40,      .... 
40  or  more  years,         

l  Applies  to  teachers  in  service  January  1,  1920.    Data  obtained  from  Report  of  Commis- 
sion on  Teachers'  Salaries,  pp.  129-130. 


TABLE  5.    LENGTH  OF  SERVICE  OF  RETIRED  BOSTON  WOMEN 

TEACHERS1 


YEARS  OF  SERVICE 


Number 

Per  Cent 

Total,     
20  years  or  less,      

302 

28 

100. 

9  3 

21  to  25  years, 

24 

7  9 

26  to  30  years,        

27 

8.9 

31  to  35  years,       

67 

22  2 

36  to  40  years, 

41 

13  6 

41  to  45  years,       .           

60 

19  9 

46  to  50  years,       

44 

14  6 

51  years  and  more, 

11 

3  6 

Number  of  Teachers  Whose  Length 
of  Service  was  as  Specified : 


iData  obtained  from  the  Report  of  the  Joint  Special  Committee  on  Pensions,  pp.  144-153. 


20 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


TABLE  6.    LENGTH  OF  SERVICE  OF  RETIRED  MASSACHUSETTS 
WOMEN  TEACHERS1 


YEARS  OF  SERVICE 

Number  of  Teachers  Whose  Length 
of  Service  was  as  Specified  : 

Number 

Per  Cent 

Total, 

358 
14 
26 
36 
62 
67 
79 
62 
12 

100. 

3.9 
7.3 
10.1 
17.3 
18.7 
22.1 
17.3 
3.3 

20  years  or  less,     

21  to  25  years,       

26  to  30  years, 

31  to  35  years,       

36  to  40  years,       

41  to  45  years,             

46  to  50  years,       

51  years  and  more,      

iData  obtained  from  Report  of  the  Joint  Special  Commission  on  Pensions,  pp.  71-82. 

changed  slightly  in  the  last  twenty  years.  There  seems  to  be  a 
tendency  for  teachers  to  remain  in  the  Boston  schools  longer  than 
they  did  formerly.  Chart  III. 

The  pension  provisions  which  went  into  effect  in  Boston  in  1908 
and  in  the  state  outside  of  Boston  in  1914,  have  undoubtedly  en- 
couraged teachers  to  remain  in  the  profession.  Of  course  the  law 
now  bars  those  who  might  wish  to  teach  after  the  age  of  seventy, 
but  Boston  teachers  show  a  tendency  to  teach  up  to  the  age  of 
seventy.  Chart  I.  Since  1914  sixty  and  seventy  years  have  been 
the  most  frequent  ages  of  retirement  for  the  state  teachers. 
Chart  II. 

It  is  evident  that  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  women  who 
have  given  the  best  of  their  earning  years  to  teaching  in  the  public 
schools.  Teachers  are  retired  with  the  assumption  that  they  are 
no  longer  fit  for  service  and  it  is  too  late  for  them  to  find  another 
occupation.  One  teacher  writes  dramatically:  "I  can  imagine 
nothing  more  pitiful  than  the  old  teacher.  She  has  given  body, 
mind  and  soul  to  her  work.  She  has  been  expected  to  keep  her- 
self up  to  the  mark.  There  have  been  no  exemptions  because  of 
advancing  age.  Up  to  the  moment  of  69  years,  364  days  she  has 
been  assumed  to  be  absolutely  efficient  and  ready  to  adopt  any 
new  work  or  fad  proposed.  And  then — the  clock  strikes  70!  And 
she  is  thrown  out  as  useless  clay.  Tell  a  child  he  is  useless  and  you 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  21 

take  a  long  step  toward  making  him  so.  Tell  a  woman  she  is 
worthless — well,  is  it  any  wonder  our  retired  teachers  age  years 
in  the  first  few  months  when  their  life  interest  is  denied  them, 
their  worthlessness  thrust  upon  them,  and  they  can  only  grope 
pitifully?" 

It  has  been  shown  that  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  women 
who  have  made  teaching  their  life  work,  and  who  have  given  years 
of  service  to  one  community.  These  teachers  have  a  right  to  ex- 
pect a  comfortable  living  during  both  active  and  retired  periods. 
Support  for  the  after  retirement  period  must  come  either  from 
savings  or  from  some  form  of  pension.  The  extent  to  which  these 
are  available  for  the  women  teachers  of  Massachusetts  will  be 
shown  in  the  following  chapters. 


22 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


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OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


23 


CHAPTER  II 

ECONOMIC  STATUS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  WOMEN 
TEACHERS  WHILE  IN  ACTIVE  SERVICE 

INTRODUCTION 

Has  the  average  woman  teacher  in  the  Massachusetts  schools 
received  a  sufficient  salary  during  the  past  30  years  to  enable  her 
to  make  adequate  provision  for  her  old  age? 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  average  teacher  who  makes  teaching 
her  life  work  has  an  income  period1  long  enough  to  provide  for 
the  years  after  retirement.  Whether  or  not  this  provision  is 
made  depends  on  three  things:  1st,  the  amount  of  the  salary; 
2nd,  the  portion  of  the  earnings  which  are  spent  in  providing  for 
the  teacher  and  her  dependents;  3rd,  the  accumulation  of  savings 
through  individual  thrift.  Let  us  consider  the  first  of  these  factors. 

AMOUNTS  OF  EARNINGS 

Incredibly  low  initial  salaries  were  received  by  Massachusetts 
teachers.  One  woman  writes  us,  "I  began  teaching  at  a  salary 
of  $180  a  year."  Imagine  trying  to  live  and  save  on  a  salary 
which  paid  less  than  50  cents  a  day!  We  must  remember  that, 
though  a  teacher  may  work  only  forty  weeks,  she  must  live  fifty- 
two.  Of  the  teachers  entering  the  profession  between  1870  and 
1900,  two-thirds  began  with  less  than  $500.  Only  two  received 
a  salary  of  $900  or  more.  The  largest  number, — approximately 
one-third  of  the  whole  group, — received  between  $400  and  $500. 

That  experience  did  not  bring  large  additions  to  these  salaries 
is  evident  from  recent  reports  showing  average  earnings  of  Massa- 
chusetts teachers.  In  18902  the  average  salary  of  the  woman 
teacher  was  $526.  This  rose  slowly  to  $586  in  1900.  It  was 
$744  in  19103  and  $837  in  1915.  The  great  increase  in  teachers' 

lAppendix,  Tables  21  and  22. 

*The  data  for  1890  and  1900  were  obtained  from  our  schedules.  As  these  were  quite  incom- 
plete in  regard  to  salaries,  the  figures  for  these  two  dates  can  be  relied  on  only  to  show  trends. 

«The  data  for  1910,  1915,  and  1920  were  taken  from  the  1920  Report  of  the  Special  Com- 
mission on  Teachers'  Salaries. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS  25 

salaries  which  was  due  to  the  war,  the  increased  cost  of  living,  and 
the  loss  of  many  valuable  teachers  to  other  more  lucrative  fields, 
occurred  between  1915  and  1920.  In  the  latter  year  the  average 
salary  was  $1,326.93;  a  rise  of  58.5  per  cent  over  1915,  78.4  per 
cent  over  1910,  and  152.3  per  cent  over  1890. 

Small  towns  and  rural  communities  have  granted  larger  percent- 
ages of  increase  than  the  larger  towns  and  cities.  Two  reports 
from  teachers  located  in  small  towns  will  show  the  contrast  be- 
tween earlier  and  later  salaries.  "I  have  always  had  a  small  sal- 
ary,— never  $600.  Last  year  we  as  teachers  were  given  $1000." 
"Until  within  the  last  two  years,  I  never  received  over  $700  a  year 
and  am  now  getting  $1400  a  year."  Though  the  percentage  in- 
crease in  salaries  in  the  rural  communities  has  been  greater  than 
in  the  cities,  there  is  still  a  large  discrepancy  between  the  two. 
When  the  teachers  are  arranged  in  four  groups1  in  accordance  with 
the  size  of  the  place  where  they  taught,  the  difference  in  the  sal- 
aries of  Groups  I  and  IV  was  $490  in  1910  and  $728  in  1920.  In 
1910,  Group  IV  received  48  per  cent  of  the  income  of  Group  I; 
in  1920,  51  per  cent.  Only  8  per  cent  of  the  teachers  of  Massachu- 
setts on  January  1,  1920,  were  receiving  less  than  $800  a  year. 

The  minimum  legal  salary  for  teachers  on  January  1,  1920,  was 
$550  for  towns  not  exceeding  $1,000,000  valuation.  This  means 
an  average  weekly  salary  of  $10.58.  The  legal  minimum  wage  of 
paper  box  workers  was  $15.50  a  week.  However,  the  average 
salary  of  all  Massachusetts  teachers  in  1920  was  $1,326.93;  of 
elementary  teachers,  $1,237.83;  of  high  school  teachers,  $1,695.48. 
Thus  the  average  weekly  income  of  Massachusetts  teachers  varied 
from  $23.80  for  elementary  teachers;  $25.52  for  all  teachers;  to 
$32.61  for  high  school  teachers. 

USES  MADE  OF  SALARIES  BY  MASSACHUSETTS 
TEACHERS 

Changes  in  Cost  of  Living 

The  bulk  of  the  earnings  of  the  teacher  are  spent  for  the  necessi- 
ties of  life, — food,  clothing,  and  shelter.  We  have  seen  how 

iln  this  discussion,  the  classification  as  employed  by  the  Massachusetts  Department  of 
Education  has  been  used. 
Group  I — 38  cities. 

Group  II — 75  towns  of  5,000  population  or  over. 

Group  III — 116  towns  of  less  than  5,000  population  having  high  schools. 
Group  IV — 225  towns  of  less  than  5,000  population  not  having  high  schools. 


26  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

teachers'  salaries  in  Massachusetts  have  increased  78.4  per  cent 
between  1910  and  1920.  During  these  same  years,  the  cost  of  liv- 
ing has  increased  99.7  per  cent,1  so  that  a  teacher  receiving  the 
average  salary  of  $1,326.93,  in  1920,  had  only  the  purchasing  power 
of  a  salary  of  $613.46  in  1910.  This  was  $130.46  less  than  the  aver- 
age salary  then  paid.  The  feeling  of  the  teachers  in  regard  to  cost 
of  living  increases  is  expressed  by  one  of  their  number  as  follows : 
I  find  my  expenses  have  increased  in  the  past  ten  years  more  than 
150  per  cent.  I  have  been  forced  to  give  up  subscriptions  to  maga- 
zines and  papers  as  a  luxury  to  be  denied  rather  than  an  equip- 
ment to  be  constantly  in  use :  that  too  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that 
the  salary  has  been  increased.  It  has  always,  however,  lagged  far 
enough  behind  the  increased  cost  of  living  to  drain  the  small  sav- 
ings and  forbid  new  ventures."  One  hundred  per  cent2  or  higher 
increases  of  salaries  of  elementary  teachers  have  been  granted  only 
in  one-third  of  the  Massachusetts  towns  and  cities.  These  teach- 
ers are  as  well  or  better  off  financially  than  they  were  in  1910. 
Ninety  per  cent  of  the  towns  and  cities  have  failed  to  raise  their 
high  school  teachers'  salaries  the  100  per  cent  necessary  to  meet  the 
99.7  per  cent  increase  in  living  expenses.  It  is  evident,  then,  that 
the  increase  in  salaries  for  the  past  few  years  has  been  more  appar- 
ent than  real,  so  that  opportunities  for  saving  at  the  present  time 
do  not  differ  greatly  from  those  of  the  period  prior  to  the  advances 
in  salaries. 

Amounts  Spent  for  Board  and  Room 

Any  effort  to  estimate  the  cost  of  board  and  room  is  complicated 
by  the  fact  that  nearly  three-fifths3  of  the  teachers  lived  at  home. 
While  it  was  impossible  to  get  data  for  exact  amounts  paid,  quota- 
tions from  their  letters4  show  that  some  paid  full  board,  some  par- 
tial board,  while  others  paid  no  board  but  contributed  to  the  ex- 
penses of  the  home  or  furnished  its  luxuries.  "They  depend  on 
what  I  pay  to  supply  the  luxuries."  "My  salary  was  barely  a  liv- 

iReport  of  Necessities  of  Life,  House  Document,  1500.  A  Special  Commission  on  Teachers' 
Salaries  Appointed  by  the  Governor,  1920,  pp.  25-27. 

ZReport  of  Special  Commission  on  Teachers'  Salaries,  1920,  p.  125. 

3In  1920,  57.04  per  cent  of  all  the  teachers  of  the  state  were  living  at  home;  64.1  per  cent 
of  Group  I;  49.1  per  cent  of  Group  II;  45.4  per  cent  of  Group  III;  38.9  per  cent  of  Group  IV. 
1920  Report,  Special  Commission  on  Teachers'  Salaries. 

<These  letters  were  received  in  answer  to  the  schedules  sent  to  Massachusetts  teachers. 
See  page  116. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


27 


ing  wage  and  there  were  always  necessities  to  be  bought  for  the 
home."  Some  were  helped  rather  than  helping:  "At  first  I  saved 
a  great  deal  as  I  paid  no  board."  "I  have  always  lived  at  home 
and  had  more  done  for  me  than  a  self-supporting  woman  does." 

The  average  cost  of  board  and  room  in  January,  1920,  for  teach- 
ers living  away  from  home,  ranged  from  $7.80  a  week  for  Group 
IV1  to  $11.30  a  week  for  Group  I,  with  an  average  for  the  State  of 
$10.72  a  week.2  Assuming  that  these  sums  were  paid  through- 
out the  year,  we  can  compute  the  yearly  average  for  board  and 
room.3  When  this  amount  is  subtracted  from  the  average  salary, 
the  margin  available  for  all  other  expenses  is  obtained.  Table  8. 


TABLE   8.     AMOUNTS   OF  EARNINGS  REMAINING  TO   MASSA- 
CHUSETTS TEACHERS  AFTER  THE  AVERAGE  COST  OF  BOARD 
AND  ROOM  HAS  BEEN  DEDUCTED  FROM  AVERAGE  SALARY 


Average 
Weekly  Cost 
of  Board  and 

Average 
Yearly  Cost 

Average 
Salary  for 

Margin  above  Cost 
of  Room  and  Board 

Room  for 
January,  19201 

of  Board 
and  Room 

January  1,1920 

Amount 

Per  Cent 

State, 

$10.72 

$557.44 

$1,326.93 

$769.49 

57.8 

Group  I, 

11.30 

587.60 

1,497.92 

910.32 

60.8 

Group  II, 

10.20 

530.40 

1,103.33 

572.93 

51.9 

Group  III, 

9.35 

486.20 

913.29 

427.09 

46.8 

Group  IV, 

7.80 

405.60 

768.69 

363.09 

47.2 

iSpecial  Commission  on  Teachers'  Salaries,  pp.  126  and  26. 

This  margin  must  supply  the  cost  of  clothing,  dental  and  medi- 
cal care,  a  reasonable  amount  for  recreation,  and  an  allowance  for 
the  expenses  which  teachers  are  called  upon  to  meet  because  of 
their  positions.  This  latter  item  includes  professional  magazines, 
tickets  bought  to  help  pupils,  clothes  and  medical  aid  for  poor 
pupils,  and  traveling  expenses  for  week-end  visits.  One  teacher 
who  has  kept  a  very  careful  clothes  budget,  reports,  "My  clothes 
allowance  has  risen  from  $50  to  $200  in  the  29  years  I  have  been 
teaching."  In  the  study  of  teachers'  budgets  made  by  a  committee 
of  teachers  from  all  the  state,  $250  is  allowed  for  clothing;  while 
the  teachers  of  Brookline  claim  that  $300  is  necessary. 

iSee  p.  25,  foot-note  1. 

ZReport  of  Special  Commission  on  Teachers'  Salaries,  1920;  p.  126. 

3This  average  will  seem  very  low  to  many.  In  a  study  of  Brookline  teachers,  the  average 
amount  for  board  and  room  reported  by  the  teachers  was  $854.71.  Another  estimate  by 
teachers  who  came  from  various  parts  of  the  state  allowed  $780  for  these  items. 


28 


OLD— AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


Composition  of  Group  Studied 

The  discussion  of  the  spending  of  the  remaining  margin  is  based 
on  reports  from  a  group  of  190  active  teachers,  85  from  Boston,  and 
105  from  other  parts  of  the  state.  Schedules  and  letters  were  sent 
to  teachers  with  more  than  15  years  of  experience,  as  they  would 
be  more  interested  in  after-retirement  plans  and  their  experiences 
would  be  of  more  value  in  this  study.  Of  the  190  teachers  who 
sent  in  schedules  sufficiently  complete  for  use,  5  per  cent  were 
under  40  years  of  age,  and  70  per  cent  were  between  40  and  60 : 
thus  three-fourths  were  below  the  lowest  age  for  retirement  with 
a  pension.1  Table  9. 

TABLE    9.      THE    AGE    PERIODS    COVERED    IN    REPORTS    OF 
EXPERIENCES  FURNISHED   BY    190   ACTIVE   MASSACHUSETTS 

TEACHERS 


AGE  PERIODS 

Number  of  Teachers  of 
Specified  Ages  who 
Reported  Experiences 

Number  of  Teachers  Reporting 
Their  Experiences  in  Specified 
Age  Periodsa 

Total  Reporting, 

190 

190 

Under  20  years, 

— 

188 

20-29,      .      .      . 

1 

188 

30-39,      .      .     . 

9 

187 

40-49,      .     .     . 

61 

178 

50-59,      .     .     . 

68 

117 

60-70,      .      .     . 

49 

49 

Age  not  stated,  . 

2 

— 

aSince  the  older  teachers  reported  for  each  preceding  10-year  period,  this  series  is  cumulative 
Thus  the  49  teachers  who  were  in  the  age  group,  60-70,  reported  their  experiences  for  each 
preceding  decade  and  are  added  to  the  number  of  teachers  whose  ages  classed  them  in  the 
other  groups. 

Investments  in  Further  Education  and  Travel 

Among  these  teachers  a  favorite  way  of  using  the  surplus  above 
the  cost  of  living  has  been  investments  for  improving  or  main- 
taining their  professional  standing.  Three-fourths  of  the  teachers 
reported  expenditures  for  travel  or  further  education.  Of  this 
number,  three-fifths  had  invested  in  both.  Professional  gain  fre- 
quently resulted  from  such  investment;  one  teacher  worked  her 
way  up  from  a  teacher  of  the  third  grade  to  the  head  of  a  depart- 
ment in  a  large  city  high  school:  "A  great  deal  of  my  savings  were 
spent  in  broadening  my  education  by  study  and  travel.  Had  I 

lAppendix,  Tables  23-26. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


CHART  TZ.      METHODS    OF    SPENDING    MARGIN    OF  INCOME     ABOVE 
COST  OF  NECESSITIES     DURING    DEFINITE     AGE.     PERIODS     BY 
ACTIVE     MASSACHUSETTS     WOMEN     TEACHERS. 


10  iO  30  4-0  50  60  70 

TRAVEL.    ...ltlllll.  EDUCATION CARE      OF    DEPENDENTS 

SAVING 

TABLES   £3- £6    GIVE     DATA   ON     WHICH    THIS  CHART   IS    BASE.D. 


30  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

not  spent  this,  it  would  have  helped  considerably  later,  but  I 
felt  it  a  necessary  investment."  Traveling  and  more  education 
have  made  possible  financially  better  positions,  and  have  also  pre- 
vented teachers  from  getting  into  stereotyped  ways  of  thinking. 
One  teacher  exclaims,  "Don't  scrimp  yourself  of  travel  and  change 
to  the  extent  of  dwarfing  your  mind,  narrowing  your  interests, 
drying  up  your  sympathies." 

About  two-fifths  of  the  teachers  invested  in  travel  and  educa- 
tion between  the  ages  of  30-39.  The  second  largest  number  of 
investors  was  found  in  the  20-29  age  period  in  education,  and  in  the 
40-49  age  period  in  travel.  After  50,  a  noticeable  decline  occurred 
in  the  number  using  either  method  of  improvement.  Table  23, 
Chart  IV. 

Only  one-fourth  of  the  teachers  could  not  or  did  not  invest  in 
travel  and  further  study.  The  feelings  of  this  group  are  thus  ex- 
pressed by  some  of  their  number:  "I  cannot  afford  this  much  de- 
sired luxury."  "I  never  had  the  courage  to  drop  my  work  and  ven- 
ture to  speculate  on  myself  by  borrowing  funds — my  meagre  salary 
was  very  precious  not  to  me  alone  but  to  others." 

Support  of  Dependents 

The  care  of  dependents  falls  heaviest  on  the  teacher  during 
those  years  when  she  should  be  saving  money  for  her  after-retire- 
ment support.  Table  24,  Chart  IV.  Between  40  and  491  over 
half  of  the  teachers  helped  others.  Almost  as  many  aided  their 
families  between  30  and  39,  and  50-59.  Below  30  and  over  60, 
the  burden  was  lighter. 

Four-fifths  of  the  teachers  studied  spent  part  of  their  earnings 
in  the  care  of  dependents.  Table  24  and  27.  Eight-ninths  of 
those  giving  total  support  and  seven-tenths  of  those  giving  partial 
support  helped  either  one  or  two  persons.  Two-thirds  of  the 
totally  supported  and  one-half  of  the  partially  supported  depend- 
ents were  women.1  Among  the  dependent  women,  mothers, 
aunts,  and  sisters  were  mentioned  most  frequently.  On  many 
schedules  we  found,  "I  took  care  of  my  widowed  mother."  Re- 
ports of  full  support  given  to  fathers  or  brothers  usually  stated 
that  they  were  invalids.  The  large  amount  of  partial  support 

iTables  24,  27.     Tables  18  and  19  report  the  care  of  dependents  by  Boston  retired  teachers. 


OLD-AGE  SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  31 

given  the  men  took  the  form  of  assistance  in  the  education  of 
younger  brothers  or  of  nephews:  "I  helped  my  three  brothers 
through  college."  "I  am  helping  a  beloved  nephew  through  col- 
lege." The  forms  of  support  most  commonly  reported  were,  the 
making  of  homes,  monetary  assistance  and  education. 

A  great  part  of  the  support  was  given  to  those  of  the  previous 
generation  from  whom  no  return  can  be  expected  when  the  teacher 
is  old.  One  of  the  teachers  who  lives  with  an  old  aunt  almost 
eighty,  writes  us:  "The  situation  has  been  this  frankly:  As  the 
generation  of  Aunt  X  grew  old  and  unable  to  work,  they  came 
home — with  or  without  funds — and  settled  down  to  await  the  end. 
There  are  two  with  us  now,  both  over  80."  If  the  teacher  is  handi- 
capped by  caring  for  others,  we  must  not  expect  her  to  provide 
adequately  for  her  own  old  age.  "If  one  is  a  teacher  and  has  de- 
pendents, she  will  have  no  use  for  methods  of  saving  and  investing 
because  there  won't  be  anything  to  save." 

Some  return  in  old  age  might  be  expected  when  help  is  given 
to  younger  brothers  and  sisters,  nieces  and  nephews.  Two  views 
of  the  probability  of  this  return  are  given.  "My  losses  have  re- 
sulted largely  from  trying  to  help  individuals  to  secure  an  educa- 
tion or  some  other  advantage."  "I  am  counting  *  *  *  on  suffi- 
cient gratitude  from  the  young  people  whom  I  have  helped  out 
to  give  me  a  home  if  I  want  one  occasionally  during  the  year,  and 
I  am  happy  to  say  that  I  have  no  doubt  of  their  generous  return." 

In  caring  for  others,  the  teacher  not  only  loses  but  gains.  The 
monetary  loss  was  offset  in  one-fourth  of  the  cases  by  an  inheritance 
of  money  or  of  a  home.  The  greatest  gain,  however,  was  in  broad- 
ened interests  and  quickened  sympathies.  This  is  well  expressed 
by  one  teacher:  "I  do  not  consider  the  situation  of  those  who 
have  relatives  to  whom  they  have  to  give  help,  nearly  as  deserving 
of  sympathy  as  that  of  those  who  have  no  relatives  at  all.  I  do 
not  see  why  the  woman  teacher  should  not  expect  to  be  of  some 
use  to  her  family  just  as  much  as  a  man  to  his.  *  *  *  I  have 
found  in  the  few  cases  among  my  acquaintances,  where  they  were 
contributing  to  the  support  of  the  coming  generation,  that  their 
interest  in  life  was  so  much  keener  and  their  feeling  that  it  was  all 
worth  while  so  much  stronger,  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  pity- 
ing attitude  of  friends,  one  would  have  thought  they  were  earning 


32  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

an  additional  salary,  instead  of  having  to  spend  what  they  did 
earn  on  a  larger  number  of  people." 

Expenditures  for  Health 

No  definite  data  can  be  given  for  the  amounts  spent  for  doctors 
and  hospital  bills,  as  the  schedule  did  not  call  for  the  information. 
Fifteen  teachers  voluntarily  mentioned  that  sickness  or  operations 
had  drained  their  savings.  Doubtless  there  were  others  who  did 
not  mention  expenditures  for  health.  "I  have  been  handicapped 
by  poor  health  and  a  long  hospital  experience  which  made  quite  an 
inroad  in  my  small  savings."  Teachers  who  had  good  health  recog- 
nized it  fully  as  the  blessing  it  is:  "I  have  had  marvelous  health. 
For  19  years  I  never  lost  a  dollar  of  pay."  "I  have  had  and  am  in 
perfect  health." 

Supplementary  Sources  of  Income 

Part-time  work  was  undertaken  by  one-sixth  of  the  190  teachers 
in  order  to  supplement  their  salaries  which  were  inadequate  to 
meet  the  cost  of  living  and  the  care  of  dependents.  This  part- 
time  work  not  only  filled  a  financial  need — bringing  in  from  $50  to 
$700  a  year — but  provides  an  avocation1  for  the  teacher  which  may 
prove  to  be  a  source  of  income,  interest,  and  pleasure  after  retire- 
ment. 

Another  method  by  which  the  salaries  were  supplemented  was 
by  aid  of  relatives.  One-sixteenth  of  the  teachers  were  furnished 
with  homes,  and  one-tenth  spent  their  vacations  at  home  without 
cost.  Inheritances  were  another  form  of  aid,  from  relatives. 


SAVINGS  AND   THEIR  INVESTMENT 

Effect  of  Inheritance  on  Savings 

Does  the  knowledge  that  she  will  inherit  money  tend  to  make 
the  teacher  neglect  saving  or  does  it  rather  increase  her  savings? 
Does  the  fact  that  the  teacher  inherits  money  show  that  she  came 
of  thrifty  stock?  An  incident  in  answer  to  the  first  question  is 
the  following:  "I  never  saved  as  I  expected  to  inherit  from  a 
rich  uncle.  He  died  and  left  the  money  to  someone  else."  Over 

lAppendix,  Table  28. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS  33 

one-fourth,  26.8  per  cent,  of  the  group  had  inheritances.  Of  these, 
one-fourth  received  $2,000  or  less.  In  only  one  case  did  the  inheri- 
tance exceed  $20,000.  One-half  of  those  who  received  inheritances 
saved  $4,000  or  over.1  This  sum  will  purchase  an  annuity  to  begin 
at  the  age  of  65  of  about  $383,  which,  added  to  the  average  pen- 
sion of  $400-$500  for  the  state  and  $500-$600  for  Boston,  would 
make  a  minimum  wage  income. 

Let  us  compare  these  savings  with  those  of  the  remaining  three- 
fourths  of  the  teachers  who  had  no  inheritances  and  so  were  in  need 
of  greater  savings.  Three-fifths  of  this  group  saved  less  than 
$4,000.  The  average  amount  saved  during  various  age  periods  is 
given  in  Table  102.  Those  with  inheritances  saved  an  average  of 

TABLE   10.     AVERAGE   SAVINGS   OF  ACTIVE   MASSACHUSETTS 
WOMEN    TEACHERS    IN    GIVEN    AGE    PERIODS 


AGE  PERIODS 

Teachers  with  Inheritance 

Teachers  without  Inheritance 

Under  20  years, 

$250. 

$250. 

20-29,  .      .      . 

625. 

485. 

30-39,  .      .      . 

825. 

795. 

40-49,  .      .      . 

1,333. 

1,092. 

50-59,  .      .      . 

958. 

1,078. 

60-70,  .      .      . 



714. 

$4,734  as  compared  with  $3,015  for  those  without  inheritances. 
Thus  it  might  seem  that  teachers  with  inheritances  were  as  a 
whole  of  a  thriftier  stock,  as  three-fourths  of  both  groups  cared  for 
dependents,  but  this  statement  should  be  qualified  by  the  fact 
that  it  is  possible  that  the  teacher  who  inherits  may  have  less 
exacting  financial  demands  in  the  care  of  her  dependents.  It  is 
true  also  that  the  additional  income  from  the  inheritance  may 
have  made  possible  a  larger  margin  for  savings. 

Age  Periods  When  Savings  Were  Made 

"Every  woman  can  save  something  if  she  gives  up  enough." 
'  'Saving  means  continual  sacrifice."  "Strictest  economy  which  I 
have  always  detested  seems  the  only  way  to  save  for  a  woman  who 
has  only  a  salary  to  depend  upon."  At  what  ages  are  women  most 

iThis  saving  is  from  the  earnings. 
ZAppendix,  Table  29. 


34  OLD-AGE  SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

willing  to  make  these  sacrifices  or  to  apply  the  hard  discipline  of 
economy?  Too  frequently  it  requires  a  realization  that  old  age  is 
approaching  in  order  to  compel  the  teachers  to  make  provision 
for  it.  Four-fifths  of  the  174  teachers  who  saved  gave  the  age  pe- 
riods when  these  savings  were  made.  The  largest  percentage  of 
teachers  saved  between  the  ages  of  40  and  49,  the  same  age  period 
when  the  care  of  dependents  was  most  burdensome.  Table  29, 
Chart  IV. 

Younger  teachers  do  not  think  of  providing  for  their  old  age. 
It  either  seems  too  far  off  or  they  are  planning  to  leave  the  profes- 
sion to  go  into  other  lines  of  work  or  to  get  married.  There  is  a 
good  foundation  for  this  planning,  for  in  1919,1  999  of  the  1,772 
teachers  leaving  Massachusetts  schools,  or  about  5  per  cent  of  the 
total  teaching  force,  left  for  the  above  two  reasons.  Teachers  who 
do  remain  in  the  profession  wish  for  an  earlier  realization  of  the 
necessity  of  saving.  "I  wish  that  the  subject  of  saving  and  invest- 
ing could  be  made  a  vital  appeal  to  young  working  women.  While 
responsibilities  are  light,  health  good,  earning  capacity  increasing, 
saving  should  begin  and  the  right  sense  of  values  be  developed, 
that  superficial  wants  should  be  looked  at  fairly,  and  spending 
for  the  most  part  be  for  more  permanent  enjoyments."  It  would 
seem  that  the  usual  way  for  the  teachers  is  to  care  for  those  de- 
pendent on  them,  improve  themselves  by  education  and  travel, 
advance  to  their  maximum  and  then  provide  for  their  old  age. 

Only  16  of  the  190  teachers  studied  had  made  no  savings.  By 
saving  is  meant  all  money  put  aside  for  old-age  provision  exclusive 
of  any  amount  saved  through  pension  systems.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  of  the  105  state  teachers  only  54  or  a  little  over  half 
said  that  they  were  saving  the  necessary  5  per  cent  of  their  salaries 
in  the  Massachusetts  Teachers'  Retirement  Association.  Four 
definitely  said  that  they  did  not  belong  to  the  Association  and  47 
or  almost  half  did  not  mention  it.  Of  the  85  Boston  teachers,  41 
were  contributing  the  $18  a  year  to  the  Boston  Teachers'  Retire- 
ment Fund  Association,  4  did  not  belong,  and  40  gave  no  informa- 
tion. All  teachers  entering  the  Boston  schools  since  1900  must  be- 
long to  the  Boston  Teachers'  Retirement  Fund  Association.  All 
teachers  entering  state  schools  exclusive  of  Boston,  since  1914, 

H920  Report  of  Special  Commission  on  Teachers'  Salaries,  p.  12. 


OLD— AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


35 


must  join  the  Massachusetts  Teachers'  Retirement  Association. 
The  teachers  who  were  in  the  service  prior  to  these  dates  have  the 
opportunity  of  joining  these  associations.1 

Forms  of  Investments  of  Savings 

All  the  savings  of  these  teachers,  exclusive  of  the  pension  sav- 
ings, were  placed  in  six  forms  of  investment:  Savings  banks; 
insurance,  including  life,  endowment,  and  annuities;  liberty  bonds; 
co-operative  banks;  stocks  and  bonds;2  real  estate,  including  house 
and  lot,  and  mortgages.  Table  11. 

One-fourth  of  all  the  investments  were  made  in  the  savings 
banks.  "The  form  of  investment  best  for  teachers  is  the  Savings 
Bank.  Their  salaries  are  too  meagre  to  take  the  risk  of  failure 
outside  the  banks.  They  must  first  seek  safety ;  after  that,  interest. 


TABLE  11.    FORMS  OF  INVESTMENT  REPORTED  BY  174  ACTIVE 
MASSACHUSETTS  WOMEN  TEACHERS 


FORMS  OF  INVESTMENT 

Investments  Reported: 

Number 

Per  Cent 

Total,          

374 
97 
63 
61 
59 
47 
36 
11 

100.0 

25.9 
16.8 
16.3 
15.8 
12.6 
9.6 
2.9 

Savings  Bank,        

Insurance,                               .... 

Liberty  Bonds, 

Co-operative  Bank,     

Stocks  and  Bonds,       

Real  Estate,      

Unknown,     

Where  else  will  you  find  that  except  in  banks. " 

Insurance,  co-operative  banks  and  liberty  bonds  were  forms  of 
investment  which  came  next  in  popularity,  each  absorbing  about 
one-sixth  of  the  number  made  by  teachers.  Endowment  policies 
were  the  favorite  form  of  insurance.  The  advantages  of  the  an- 
nuity were  appreciated  by  many.  "I  have  taken  out  an  annuity 
bond  which  will  pay  10  per  cent  on  my  investment  from  the  time 
I  am  65.  I  consider  that  my  best  investment." 

iFor  a  discussion  of  these  two  pension  systems,  see  report  by  Alice  Channing  on  the  Resources 
of  the  Public  School  Teacher  at  the  Time  of  Retirement  Chapter  III. 

^Stocks  of  Public  Utility  Corporations  were  chosen  most  frequently  for  these  investments. 


36  OLD-AGE    SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

The  use  of  co-operative  banks  as  means  of  saving  money  seems 
to  be  increasing  in  popularity  among  the  teachers  as  nearly  all  have 
a  good  word  for  it:  "For  years  I  have  put  so  many  dollars  every 
month  into  a  co-operative  bank  and  it  has  seemed  at  times  like  a 
gold  mine."  "I  think  co-operative  bank  shares,  which  are  safe,  pay 
a  high  rate  of  interest  and  demand  monthly  payments,  are  to  be 
recommended."  "They  gave  me  my  first  $1,000." 

No  doubt  the  Liberty  Bonds  were  purchased  from  motives  of 
patriotism  as  well  as  because  they  were  safe  investments.  Thus  we 
have  three-fourths  of  all  investments  in  such  conservative  forms  as 
savings  and  co-operative  banks,  insurance  and  liberty  bonds. 

Half  of  the  teachers  intrusted  their  savings  in  only  one  or  two 
forms  of  investment,  while  only  2.6  per  cent  tried  as  many  as  five 
forms.  Caution  in  investing  savings  was  characteristic  of  the 
teachers.  The  following  quotations  are  indicative  of  this, — "Those 
who  have  little  can  run  less  risks  in  the  search  for  higher  per  cents 
than  those  who  have  more."  "The  Savings  or  Co-operative  Banks 
are  the  safest  places  for  a  teacher  to  put  her  money.  She  cannot 
afford  the  nervous  strain  of  uncertain  or  large  dividends."  "Never 
make  any  investments  without  the  advice  of  2  or  3  highest 
authorities  on  the  subject." 

Constructive  Plans  for  Saving 

The  teacher's  problem  for  saving  is  a  complicated  one.  It  can 
be  carried  to  extremes  as  some  realize:  "Balance  carefully  the 
desirability  of  saving.  There  is  a  real  danger  of  professional 
women,  especially  teachers,  saving  so  hard  that  they  stunt  them- 
selves." It  may  be  entirely  neglected  as  others  realize:  "To 
speak  frankly,  I  have  found  my  co-laborers  as  a  class  lacking  in 
thrift.  Many  spent  regularly  the  entire  monthly  salary  before  it 
was  due."  Or  a  reasonable  view  may  be  taken :  "I  certainly  wish 
to  say  that  people  do  not  realize  early  enough  the  needs  of  the 
future.  On  the  other  hand  perpetual  skimping  and  saving  is 
narrowing  and  tends  to  embitter  one  toward  life.  To  strike  the 
happy  medium  is  certainly  the  difficult  and  desirable  thing  to  at 
least  attempt."  As  another  teacher  expresses  it,  "Somewhere  be- 
tween stinginess  and  unwise  generosity,  between  miserliness  and 
wastefulness  is — I  suppose — a  road  of  wise  saving.  How  a  teacher 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  37 

can  save  sufficient  sums  to  secure  her  old  age — and  we  live  to  old 
ages — I  have  not  yet  found  out." 

Three  different  plans  of  saving,  successfully  used  by  several 
teachers,  have  been  selected  as  examples : 

The  first  of  the  three  plans,  as  tried  by  various  teachers  is  as  fol- 
lows. Invest  in  something  that  demands  regular  payments,  as  co- 
operative banks  or  insurance.  Save  regularly  and  systematically. 
This  plan,  a  favorite  one,  is  thus  expressed:  "It  is  advantageous 
to  invest  in  co-operative  stock  or  in  such  a  regular  plan  that  she 
(the  teacher)  will  estimate  it  as  part  of  her  living  expense  rather 
than  what  may  be  left  at  any  period."  "Make  it  compulsory  to 
be  met  as  a  debt."  "Always  live  on  less  than  your  salary." 

The  second  plan  is  similar  but  involves  the  use  of  a  budget 
planned  for  individual  needs,  and  allowing  for  saving.  "Make  a 
budget  for  next  month  when  the  salary  is  received  and  put  away 
all  left."  "Get  a  budget  suited  to  your  salary  and  stick  to  it! 
You  can't  manage  an  income  without  paper  and  pencil." 

The  third  plan  is  to  build  a  house  with  the  help  of  a  loan  society 
and  save  by  paying  the  debt  thus  contracted.  The  pressure  of  a 
debt  seems  to  be  stronger  than  the  urge  to  save:  "My  salary  was 
very  small.  I  could  not  save  but  I  could  pay  bills  if  I  had  promised 
to  do  so.  I  had  a  two  flat  house  built  for  me  and  so  arranged  that 
1  could  rent  rooms  to  teachers  and  live  myself  on  the  second  floor. 
I  had  saved  the  enormous  (?)  sum  of  $200  and  with  $200  more 
left  me,  I  began  to  pay  for  the  house  which  then  cost  me  $4,100." 

CONCLUSION 

We  have  seen  that  the  average  salary  of  the  woman  teacher  in 
Massachusetts  has  increased  from  $525.92  in  1890,  to  $1,326.93 
in  1920.  Her  average  board  and  room  in  1920  has  been  $557.44, 
leaving  her  a  margin  of  $769.49  from  which  must  be  deducted 
amounts  for  clothing  and  other  necessary  expenditures.  Various 
ways  of  using  the  margin  that  is  left  have  been  studied.  Two- 
sevenths  of  the  teachers  have  entirely  supported  some  member  of 
their  family,  two-thirds  have  partially  supported  others.  Travel 
and  education  have  used  more  of  the  margin;  nearly  three-fifths 
of  the  teachers  availing  themselves  of  both.  These  expenditures 
have  helped  in  keeping  the  outlook  of  the  teacher  keen  and 


38  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

sane.  The  care  of  others  has  helped  to  keep  her  "human."  For 
some  teachers,  ill  health  has  used  up  all  available  savings. 

One-sixth  of  the  teachers  have  been  assisted  by  relatives  either 
through  having  a  home  offered  them  for  the  whole  year  or  for  vaca- 
tions. One-fourth  have  received  inheritances. 

Due  to  family  cares  and  inadequate  salaries,  many  teachers 
have  had  to  supplement  their  salaries  by  part-time  earnings. 
These  occupations  have  disclosed  a  number  of  interesting  avoca- 
tions which  should  prove  helpful  to  after-retirement  plans. 


CHAPTER  III 

RESOURCES  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  WOMEN  TEACHERS 
AT   THE    TIME   OF    RETIREMENT 

History  of  Teachers'  Pensions  in  Massachusetts 

Public  school  teachers  in  the  state  of  Massachusetts  have  as  a 
minimum  resource  at  the  time  of  retirement  the  pensions  estab- 
lished by  law.  These  pensions,  paid  from  the  public  funds  of  city 
or  state,  were  provided  for  teachers  in  Boston  and  some  other 
cities  in  1908,  and  for  all  teachers  in  the  state  in  1914.  The  Boston 
teachers  augment  the  city  pension  by  a  small  annuity  from  the 
Retirement  Fund  provided  by  a  teachers'  association  founded  in 
1900.  This  system  of  pensions  has  been  a  gradual  growth  which 
began  with  the  founding  of  mutual  aid  and  insurance  societies  in 
1890. 

Voluntary  Mutual  Benefit  Societies 

The  movement  of  the  teachers  for  mutual  insurance  was  a  con- 
sequence of  their  concern  over  the  lack  of  an  organized  old-age 
provision.  Dependent  on  their  own  initiative,  with  salaries  barely 
sufficient  for  daily  existence,  the  teachers  of  the  '80s  and  '90s 
found  the  problem  of  meeting  the  future  doubly  difficult.  Some 
teachers,  who  retired  and  had  no  families  on  whom  to  rely,  were  in 
desperate  straits.  As  one  of  the  older  teachers  remarked,  "The  hat 
was  continually  passed  among  the  active  teachers  for  subscrip- 
tions." With  the  needs  of  the  future  before  them,  undoubtedly 
influenced  by  the  social  insurance  plans  which  were  being  tried  out 
in  Europe  and  by  the  fraternal  orders  springing  up  in  America, 
the  teachers  got  together  and  founded  mutual  benefit  societies. 

Boston  Mutual  Benefit  Society 

Two  of  these,  the  Boston  Teachers'  Mutual  Benefit  Society  and 
the  Massachusetts  Guild,  still  exist.  Started  with  enthusiasm 
but  in  ignorance  of  actuarial  principles,  they  ended  in  compara- 
tive failure.  The  Boston  Mutual  Benefit  Society,  dating  back  to 


40  OLD-AGE  SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

1889,  planned  to  divide  its  income  equally  among  retired  members 
and  expected  that  the  annuities  would  amount  to  $300  a  year. 
The  money  for  annuities  was  to  be  derived  from  assessments  of 
1  per  cent  on  salaries,1  which  would  have  resulted  in  per  capita 
payments  of  $8  to  $10  a  year.  Funds  obtained  in  this  way  were 
to  be  supplemented  by  proceeds  from  entertainments  and  by  be- 
quests from  interested  individuals.  During  the  first  five  years 
$75,000  were  raised  by  two  bazaars,  and  there  were  also  some 
bequests.  Since  membership  was  not  compulsory,  younger 
teachers,  who  were  not  worried  about  their  future,  did  not  join; 
as  a  result  older  teachers  were  in  the  majority.  Some  who  had 
paid  in  very  little  to  the  fund  retired  and  received  allowances 
of  $300  or  even,  in  four  cases,  of  $600  a  year.  There  was  a  decrease 
in  new  members  and  the  annuitants  increased  at  a  more  rapid 
rate  than  the  fund.  It  became  evident  that  the  assessments  were 
too  small  although  membership  for  fifteen  years  before  retire- 
ment was  soon  required.  The  maximum  allowance,  at  the  present 
time,  is  $40  a  year,  or  4  per  cent  of  the  former  salary.  There  has 
been  one  new  member  in  six  years  and  the  270  annuitants  out- 
number the  240  active  members.  If  the  original  funds,  $140,000 
had  not  been  well  invested,  the  society  would  now  be,  as  its 
treasurer  remarked,  "defunct."  Ninety-five  of  the  115  teachers 
visited  in  the  course  of  the  investigation  receive  benefits  from 
this  Society  amounting  to  from  $37  to  $40  a  year. 

Massachusetts  Annuity  Guild 

The  other  surviving  society,  the  Massachusetts  Annuity  Guild, 
founded  in  1893  for  teachers  outside  Boston,  has  much  the  same 
history.  The  assessments  of  1 1/2  per  cent,  $7.50  to  $15  a  year,  were 
not  sufficient;  membership  consisting  of  older  rather  than  of 
younger  teachers  was  not  compulsory;  and  the  number  of  an- 
nuitants increased  more  rapidly  than  the  income.  The  annuities 
have  fallen  from  $200  to  $502  a  year.  The  active  membership 

lAt  present  the  assessment  is  1  per  cent  on  salaries  of  $1,000.  For  larger  salaries  the  assess- 
ment for  each  additional  $100  is  $0.48  or  ^  of  1  per  cent.  The  present  assessment  on  an 
elementary  teacher's  salary  of  $1,760  is  $14  a  year. 

2The  annuity  to  which  teachers  who  have  paid  $15  for  30  years  are  entitled  is  nominally 
$62.80.  Practically  20  per  cent  of  the  annuity  is  deducted  because  none  of  the  teachers  has 
paid  the  30  years  of  assessments,  and  1H  per  cent  is  charged  for  membership  dues.  This 
resulted  in  August,  1920,  in  the  following  half-yearly  payments:  254  who  paid  $15  yearly 
received  $25.75;  36  who  paid  $11  yearly  received  $16.40;  and  66  who  paid  $7.50  yearly,  $12.87. 


OLD-AGE    SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS  41 

has  decreased  from  a  maximum  of  1400  to  about  1000,  and  the 
256  annuitants  draw  their  allowances  from  the  permanent  in- 
vested fund  of  $250,000.  There  is  some  discussion  as  to  whether 
it  might  be  wise  to  wind  up  the  affairs  of  the  Guild  and  transfer 
the  responsibility  of  administering  the  fund  to  a  reliable  insurance 
company.  If  this  is  done,  the  annuities  will  amount  to  little  over 
$35  a  year,  but  the  last  surviving  members  will  be  assured  that  at 
retirement  they  also  will  receive  this  $35  annuity. 

First  Legislation  Establishing  the  Boston  Teachers'  Retirement  Fund 

Association  in  1900 

The  experience  of  these  two  voluntary  benefit  societies  showed 
the  teachers  that  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  old-age  support  had 
not  been  reached.  They  felt  that  some  compulsory  measure 
would  have  to  be  adopted.  As  a  result  of  their  efforts,  the  legisla- 
ture in  1900  passed  the  first  law  for  the  benefit  of  retired  teachers, 
and  established  the  Boston  Teachers*  Retirement  Fund  Associa- 
tion.1 The  chief  difference  between  this  society  and  the  mutual 
societies  was  that  membership  for  all  teachers  entering  the  service 
after  the  passage  of  the  Act,  was  compulsory.  Unfortunately 
actuarial  principle  were  not  completely  understood  and  the  prom- 
ised annuities  were  out  of  proportion  to  the  assessments.  The 
fund  was  contributory  and  received  no  aid  from  the  city  treasury. 
All  members  paid  a  flat  rate  of  $18  a  year.  Those  who  left  the 
service  received  a  refund  of  one-half  of  their  contributions  but 
the  contributions  of  those  who  died  reverted  to  the  fund.  After 
teaching  thirty  years,  ten  of  which  must  have  been  in  Boston, 
and  after  making  payments  of  $540,  the  teacher  was  eligible  to 
retire  on  an  annuity.  The  amount  of  this  annuity  was  left  to  the 
discretion  of  the  trustees.  Prior  to  1914  the  amounts  were  as  fol- 
lows: 1901,  $150  a  year;  1902  to  1913,  $168;  1904  to  1914,  $180. 
In  1914  the  state  actuary,2  at  the  request  of  the  trustees,  investi- 
gated the  condition  of  the  fund.  He  recommended  that  the  an- 
nuity be  reduced  to  $81  a  year.  The  trustees  cut  the  amount  to 
$120  and  this  is  still  being  paid  to  the  294  annuitants.  Nine  only 
of  the  115  teachers  visited  did  not  join  the  Retirement  Fund  Asso- 
ciation and  do  not  receive  this  annuity. 

i Massachusetts  Acts  of  1900,  Chap.  237. 

2Report  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Boston  Retirement  Fund  by  Wm.  Montgomery,  Sept. 
16,  1914. 


42  OLD-AGE  SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

The  generous  provision  enabling  teachers  who  become  disabled 
after  two  or  more  years  of  service  to  retire  on  an  annuity  is  one  of 
the  reasons  that  the  contributions  of  $18  a  year  are  not  sufficient 
to  pay  the  $180  a  year.  Although  the  funds  are  increased  by  the 
contributions  of  teachers  who  resign  or  die,  this  extra  money  does 
not  suffice.  Sotae  teachers  who  retire  on  account  of  ill  health  may 
live  a  long  time  and  yet  be  entitled  to  an  annuity  every  year  of 
their  lives.  Since  1900,  38  teachers  have  retired  for  invalidity  be- 
fore they  had  served  thirty  years,  and  64  others  retired  after  serv- 
ing this  period  but  before  they  had  reached  the  age  of  sixty. 
Hence,  although  the  disability  provision  is  a  valuable  insurance 
for  the  teacher,  it  is  a  drain  on  the  resources  of  the  Fund. 

Legislation  Providing  Publicly  Supported  Pension  Systems 

The  annuities  granted  by  the  Retirement  Fund  Association 
after  1900,  to  disabled  and  superannuated  teachers,  were,  after 
all,  only  small  contributions  toward  their  support.  Teachers  out- 
side Boston  were  not  eligible  even  for  this,  but  were  still  dependent 
on  the  decreasing  annuities  from  the  Massachusetts  Guild.  The 
feeling  grew  among  both  teachers  and  the  public  that  more  ade- 
quate provision  for  old  age  should  be  made,  not  from  teachers' 
contributions  but  from  public  funds.  This  feeling  was  increased 
by  the  fact  that  at  this  time  proposals  were  being  made  that  other 
state  employees  should  be  pensioned.  The  school  authorities 
urged  that  similar  provisions  should  be  made  for  teachers  in  order 
to  relieve  the  schools  of  old  and  incapacitated  teachers  who  could 
not  retire  without  losing  their  only  means  of  livelihood.  In  19081 
the  legislature  finally  passed  an  Act  providing  that  cities  and  towns 
might,  if  they  so  desired,  retire  their  teachers  on  pensions  from 
the  municipal  funds.  Twelve  cities  and  towns,  including  Brook- 
line  and  Cambridge,  accepted  this  law. 

Boston  Pension  Acts  of  1908  and  1910 

The  city  of  Boston  was  empowered  by  a  special  Act  in  the 
same  year  to  establish  a  non-contributory  pension  system  for 
its  teachers.2  In  1910  it  was  provided  that  these  pensions  should 

iMassachusetts  Acts  of  1908,  Chapter  498. 

aMassachusetts  Acts  of  1908,  Chapter  589.  This  Act  established  the  Permanent  School 
Pension  Fund  of  the  City  of  Boston.  The  pension  was  not  to  exceed  $180  a  year. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  43 

be  one-third  of  the  teachers'  maximum  salary;  the  minimum  pen- 
sion being  $312  and  the  maximum  S600.1  Funds  for  these  pen- 
sions were  provided  by  a  tax  of  five  cents  on  every  $1000  of 
taxable  property  in  Boston;  in  1915  this  tax  was  raised  to  seven 
cents.  The  pension  was  granted  to  every  teacher  who  had 
taught  for  thirty  years, — ten  in  Boston, — and  who  had  reached 
the  age  of  65.  By  a  regulation  of  the  School  Committee,  which 
took  effect  at  the  same  time,  all  teachers  were  compelled  to  retire 
at  the  age  of  seventy.  Disabled  teachers  who  were  under  65 
years  of  age  were  also  entitled  to  a  pension.  The  law  states  that 
this  pension  "shall  bear  the  same  ratio  to  the  pension  provided 
at  retirement  as  the  total  number  of  years  of  service  bears  to  thirty 
years."2 

Many  teachers  who  had  retired  before  this  law  became  effective 
could  not  live  on  the  meagre  allowances  from  the  Retirement 
Fund  and  Mutual  Benefit  Society.  After  two  years  effort  by 
public-spirited  teachers,  the  legislature  made  the  law  retroactive,3 
providing  that  "not  less  than  60  persons"  who  had  retired  before 
1908  should  receive  a  pension  of  $180  a  year,  the  amount  then  be- 
ing paid  by  the  Retirement  Fund  Association.  The  oldest  teachers 
were  placed  on  the  list  of  60.  As  they  died  others  took  their 
places.  Twelve  teachers  are  still  living  in  1920  who  have  made 
application  for  this  pension  but  have  received  nothing.4  Thus  all 
Boston  teachers  who  have  retired  since  1908  have  been  granted 
pensions  and  most  of  those  who  retired  before  1908  have  received 
some  assistance. 

Massachusetts  State  Pension  System 

The  state  teachers'  pension  system  was  not  established  until 
1914,5  although  the  needs  of  state  teachers  were  greater  than 

iMassachusetts  Acts  of  1910,  Chapter  617,  amended  the  Act  of  1908  and  increased  the 
amount  of  the  pension  to  J  maximum  salary. 

2Massachusetts  Acts  of  1908,  Chap.  589.  This  Act  established  the  Permanent  School 
Pension  Fund  of  the  City  of  Boston.  The  pension  was  not  to  exceed  $180  a  year. 

3Mass.  Acts  of  1910,  Chap.  617,  also  provided  pensions  of  $180  for  teachers  who  retired 
before  1908. 

<It  was  provided  that  applications  for  this  pension  should  be  made  before  1912. 
Some  teachers,  the  number  of  whom  is  not  known  to  the  School  Committee,  failed 
to  make  this  application.  It  has  been  reported  that  some  of  these  old  teachers  are  in  great 
need.  One  over  80,  stone  deaf,  is  being  partially  cared  for  by  relatives  but  is  in  need  of  supple- 
mentary assistance.  Another  who  served  the  city  28  years  is  in  an  old  ladies'  home. 

6  Acts  of  Mass.  1913,  Chap.  832;  amended  Acts  1919,  Chap.  292.  Those  towns  still  in  favor 
of  retaining  the  old  system  of  1908  might  do  so  and  the  state  would  refund  to  the  town  "the 
amount  of  pension  to  which  a  teacher  would  be  entitled  if  he  had  retired  under  the  state  system." 


44  OLD-AGE   SUPPOKT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

those  of  Boston  teachers.    The  founders  of  the  system  made  a  care- 
ful investigation  of  social  insurance  principles  and  of  previous 
attempts  to  pension  teachers  in  Massachusetts  and  in  other  states. 
The  new  system,  one  of  the  best  in  the  United  States,  is  a  combina- 
tion of  the  non-contributory  and  the  contributory  plans.     Half 
of  the  allowance  is  derived  from  the  state  funds  and  the  other  half 
from  assessments  on  the  teachers'  salaries.    The  annuities  derived 
from  the  assessments  are  based  on  strict  actuarial  principles.    The 
total  allowance  is  equal  to  approximately  half  the  teacher's  salary. 
All  teachers  entering  the  state  service  after  passage  of  the  law 
automatically  become  members  of  the  Massachusetts  Teachers' 
Retirement  Association  and  pay  5  per  cent  of  their  salaries  toward 
the  retirement  fund.    Membership  is  voluntary  for  teachers  enter- 
ing the  service  before  1914.     If  a  teacher  resigns  or  dies  before 
retirement,  the  total  amount  she  has  contributed  with  the  addi- 
tion of  interest  will  be  returned  to  her  or  her  heirs.    At  retirement, 
which  may  take  place  at  the  age  of  60  and  is  compulsory  at  70,  she 
may  buy  an  annuity  "to  which  the  sum  of  her  assessments  at  com- 
pound interest  entitle  her."    She  is  not  required  to  pay  assess- 
ments for  more  than  thirty  years  and  is  not  allowed  to  pay  more 
than  will  enable  her  to  buy  an  annuity  of  $500  at  the  age  of  60.    If 
she  retires  at  the  age  of  70  she  will,  of  course,  on  insurance  princi- 
ples, be  able  to  buy  a  larger  annuity  with  the  same  sum  of  money. 
The  gift  pension  provided  by  the  state  is  equal  in  amount  to  the 
annuity  which  the  teacher  has  bought  with  her  contributions.    To 
teachers  who  were  in  the  service  of  the  state  before  1914,  provided 
they  had  taught  fifteen  years  in  Massachusetts,  five  of  which 
immediately  preceded  retirement,  the  state  gives  an  additional 
pension,  "of  such  an  amount  that  her  (his)  pension  shall  equal 
the  pension  to  which  she  (he)  would  have  been  entitled  if  she  (he) 
had  paid  the  assessments  for  thirty  years."1    Since  19172  teachers, 
disabled  after  twenty  years  of  service  are  allowed  a  fraction  of 
the  retirement  pension,  the  amount  based  on  the  sum  of  their  con- 
tributions.    The  minimum  total  retiring  allowance  for  superan- 
nuated teachers  was  set  at  $300,  but  on  account  of  the  rise  in 
salaries  and  in  the  cost  of  living,  the  minimum  was  raised  in  1920 
to  $400. 

iMass.  Acts,  of  1913,  Chap.  832. 
2Mass.  Acts  of  1917,  Chap.  233. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  45 

Comparison  of  the  Boston  and  State  Systems 

The  requirements  for  receiving  a  pension  are  evidently  some- 
what similar  under  the  state  and  city  systems.  Retirement  at  the 
age  of  70  is  compulsory  in  both  cases;  the  minimum  legal  age  for 
retirement  in  Boston  is  65  instead  of  60,  but  many  Boston  teachers 
retire  under  the  disability  provision  before  they  are  65.  There 
is  no  length  of  service  requirement  in  the  Massachusetts  law  as  in 
that  of  Boston,  but  a  state  teacher,  in  order  to  receive  a  substantial 
pension,  must  pay  assessments  for  thirty  years. 

The  way  in  which  the  two  systems  work  out,  however,  is  differ- 
ent. All  Boston  teachers  pay  $18  a  year,  1  per  cent  or  less  of 
their  salaries,  to  the  Retirement  Fund,  an  organization  which  is 
entirely  distinct  from  the  city  pension  system.  They  can  receive 
no  more  than  the  $120  annuity,  an  amount  which  is  not  guaranteed 
and  is  likely  to  diminish.  State  teachers  contribute  from  $35  to 
$100  a  year,  5  per  cent  of  their  salaries,  and  receive  an  annuity 
in  exact  accordance  with  their  contributions.  This  annuity  may  be 
over  $500.  The  city  of  Boston  gives  teachers  one-third  their 
former  maximum  salaries;  the  state,  though  it  is  paying  more  at 
present,  plans  to  give  one-quarter  of  the  former  salaries.  The 
maximum  pension  that  Boston  teachers  can  receive  is  $600  plus 
$120  from  the  Retirement  Fund;  the  maximum  for  state  teachers 
is  dependent  on  their  contributions,  and  may  be  more  than  $1000. 

The  Boston  city  pensions  are  open  to  two  criticisms  from  which 
the  state  pensions,  because  they  are  partially  contributory  and 
based  on  the  individual  teacher's  salary,  are  exempt.  The  Boston 
system  is  inelastic  and  not  adjusted  to  the  change  in  salaries.  Since 
the  salary  raises  of  the  last  two  years,  all  Boston  teachers,  princi- 
pals, high  school  and  elementary  teachers  alike,  will  receive  the 
same  pension,  the  $600  maximum.  The  higher  paid  teachers, 
some  of  whom  were  visited,  thought  it  unfair  that  their  more  ex- 
pensive education  and  greater  ability  were  not  recognized  by 
larger  pensions.  The  elementary  teachers,  on  the  contrary,  said 
that,  as  their  lower  salaries  did  not  permit  of  as  much  saving,  the 
flat  rate  was  just.  The  other  criticisms  were  founded  on  the  fact 
that  the  Boston  pensions  are  non-contributory.  The  gift  pensions, 
it  was  said,  are  deferred  wages  which  should  have  been  paid  in 
previous  years.  Thus  they  serve  as  an  excuse  for  low  salaries. 


46 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


Some  of  the  oldest  retired  teachers,  who  receive  the  lowest  pen- 
sions, did  not  criticise  but  said  that  "the  city  was  very  good  to 
them  and  that  they  were  grateful  for  anything."  Others  con- 
demned the  pensions  as  a  charity,  the  acceptance  of  which  lowered 
their  self-respect. 

Both  the  Boston  and  state  systems  have  a  weakness  which  is 
not  so  much  a  fault  of  the  systems  as  of  the  fact  that  the  purchas- 
ing power  of  money  has  changed  since  the  laws  were  passed.  Under 
both  systems  the  amount  of  the  pension  of  the  retired  teacher  is 
based  on  her  former  salary  and  does  not  change  from  year  to  year. 
On  account  of  the  rapid  rise  of  salaries,  those  of  elementary  teach- 
ers having  doubled  since  the  passage  of  the  pension  act,1  a  teacher 
who  retired  in  1920  receives  a  much  larger  pension  than  a  teacher 
of  the  same  grade  who  retired  a  few  years  before.  As  the  living 
expenses  of  the  older  teachers  are  quite  as  high  and  as  the  value 
of  their  service  to  the  schools  was  no  less,  they  feel  that  their 
smaller  pensions  are  unjust.  This  feeling  may  perhaps  be  more 
clearly  understood  by  studying  the  following  table  which  shows 
the  pensions  to  which  Boston  teachers  with  different  dates  of  re- 
tirement are  entitled.  While  the  principle  illustrated  by  this 
table  applies  also  to  state  pensions,  it  should  be  remembered  that 

IReport  of  the  Special  Commission  on  Teachers'  Salaries,  1920. 
Average  salary  of  elementary  Boston  and  state  teachers  combined,  1910,  $668.72. 
Average  salary  of  elementary  Boston  and  state  teachers  combined,  1920,  $1,237.83. 
Average  salary  of  elementary  and  high  school  teachers  combined,  1910,  $743.91. 
Average  salary  of  elementary  and  high  school  teachers  combined,  1920,  $1,326.93. 


TABLE  12.     CITY  OF  BOSTON  PENSIONS  TO  WHICH  RETIRED 
TEACHERS  ARE  ENTITLED 


YEARSi 

Pension  Rates  Effective  in  Specified  Years  by  Rank  of  Teacher 

Assistants 
Elementary 

Assistants 
in  Charge 

Masters' 
Assistants 

Assistants 
High  School 

Principals 

19082-1911,      . 

312 

372 

436 

540 

600 

1912-1913,      . 

344 

500 

500 

588 

600 

1914-1918,      . 

392 

500 

500 

588 

600 

1919,          .      . 

456 

564 

564 

600 

600 

1920,          .      . 

584 

600 

600 

600 

600 

1921,          .      . 

600 

600 

600 

600 

600 

iThe  salary  rates  were  changed  at  the  dates  specified.      As  the  pension  is  equivalent  to  one- 
third  of  the  maximum  salary,  the  pension  rates  shifted  as  above. 
2Teachers  who  retired  before  1908  receive  $180  a  year. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  47 

state  pensions  have  not  reached  the  established  maximum  but 
are  continuing  to  rise  with  the  salary  change. 

Elementary  teachers,  then,  who  retire  in  1921  will  receive  a 
pension  double  that  which  they  would  have  received  if  they  had 
reached  the  retiring  age  between  1908  and  1911;  assistants  in 
charge  will  receive  $220  more  and  principals  will  receive  just  the 
same  amount  in  1921  as  in  1908.  Of  the  group  of  115  teachers 
visited,  26  elementary  teachers  and  22  assistants  in  charge  retired 
before  1918,  and  26  of  all  ranks  retired  before  1908. 

To  illustrate  further  the  situation  which  has  arisen  by  this 
change  in  the  pension  rate,  we  found  an  elementary  teacher  who, 
after  fifty-one  years  of  service,  retired  in  1911  on  a  pension  of  $312. 
She  is  now  old  and  infirm  and,  having  exhausted  her  slender  stock 
of  savings,  finds  it  difficult  to  pay  the  doctor  and  buy  the  comforts 
her  increasing  years  demand.  Another  elementary  teacher,  who 
happened  to  reach  the  retiring  age  in  1920,  would  receive  $584. 
She  may  still  be  strong  and  active,  with  her  supply  of  savings  un- 
touched. The  only  comment  on  the  pension  system  of  one  of  the 
teachers  in  this  more  favorable  situation  was:  "The  pension  is 
too  small."  Is  it  surprising  that  the  older  teachers  whose  incomes 
are  much  less  fitted  to  their  needs  feel  that  the  system  is  unjust? 

Amounts  of  Pensions  Received 

The  adjustment  of  these  pensions  so  that  all  teachers  of  the 
same  grade  will  receive  the  same  amount  regardless  of  the  date 
of  their  retirement,  has  not  been  attempted.  When  studying  the 
actual  amounts  of  pensions  now  being  received  by  retired  Boston 
and  state  teachers,  it  should  be  clearly  borne  in  mind  that  these 
amounts  represent  the  provision  for  old-age  support  of  teachers 
made  in  the  past,  when  the  dollar  had  double  the  value  of  to-day. 

The  Massachusetts  Teachers'  Retirement  Board  has  granted 
pensions  to  323  women  teachers  and  45  men  teachers  who  have 
retired  since  July,  1914.  Table  30.  Over  one-half,  55  per  cent, 
of  the  women  receive  $300  a  year,  the  legal  minimum  up  to  1920. 
Three-quarters,  77  per  cent,  receive  not  more  than  $400,  and  only 
one-tenth,  11  per  cent,  over  600.  The  relation  of  women's  pen- 
sions to  those  of  men  is  clear.  One-half  of  the  men  receive  over 
$600  and  only  three  men  receive  the  minimum.  The  largest  pen- 


48  OLD-AGE   SUPPOKT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHEKS 

sions  between  $800  and  $850  are  obtained  by  four  men  and  two 
women.  It  is  obvious  that  principals  in  state  schools  have  no 
cause  to  complain  that  their  pensions  bear  no  relation  to  the  im- 
portance of  their  positions. 

Although  it  is  planned  that  one-half  of  the  state  pensions 
shall  be  paid  for.  by  the  teachers,  their  contributions  in  the  six 
years  since  the  passage  of  the  law  necessarily  have  been  small. 
Of  the  323  women  teachers  retired  since  1914,  22  per  cent  retired 
at  once  and  contributed  nothing;  49  per  cent  contributed  less  than 
$100;  79  per  cent  less  than  $200  and  94  per  cent  less  than  $300^ 
Up  to  the  present  time,  therefore,  state  teachers  have  been  practi- 
cally in  receipt  of  gift  pensions. 

The  amounts  of  pensions  from  public  funds  received  by  Boston 
teachers  are  higher  than  those  received  by  state  teachers,  as  will 
be  seen  by  studying  Chart  V.2  Nearly  one-third,  29.2  per  cent, 
of  the  192  city  teachers  receive  a  pension  between  $301-$350 — 
most  of  them  the  legal  minimum  $312.  Over  one-half,  53.2  per  cent 
receive  not  more  than  $400.  Somewhat  over  one-tenth,  13  per 
cent,  receive  more  than  $500;  but  no  one  receives  more  than  $600. 

As  state  teachers  pay  for  a  part  of  their  pension,  it  would  be 
fairer  to  compare  their  pensions  with  those  received  by  Boston 
teachers  after  adding  the  annuities  from  the  Retirement  Fund 
Association  to  the  gift  pensions  from  the  city.  This  cannot  be 
done,  as  the  exact  number  of  retired  teachers  who  did  not  join  the 
Retirement  Fund  Association  is  unknown.  Undoubtedly  most 
of  the  192  teachers  did  join  and  receive  $120  a  year  besides  the 
city  pension. 

An  accurate  idea  of  how  the  city  pensions  are  augmented  by 
annuities  from  the  Retirement  Fund  and  from  the  Mutual  Benefit 
Society  may  be  obtained  from  a  study  of  the  total  allowances  of 
the  115  retired  teachers  who  were  visited.  Table  13.  The  pen- 
sions paid  these  teachers  by  the  city  fall  into  three  distinct  groups, 
$150  to  $200,  $301  to  $400  and  $401  to  $500.  By  referring  again 
to  the  table  in  which  pensions  were  tabulated  by  year  of  retire- 
ment, these  three  main  variations  are  easily  explained.  The  283 

Unformation  obtained  from  the  records  of  the  Massachusetts  Teachers'  Retirement  Asso- 
ciation. 

2Appendix,  Table  31. 

3Two  of  these  teachers  received  disability  allowances. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS  49 


CHART  3C          PERCENTAGE        DISTRIBUTION    OF    AFTER 
RETIREMENT  ALLOWANCES      RECEIVED    BY 

MASSACHUSETTS     WOMEN    TEACHERS.1 


ovar, 


SIXTY  TEACMER5    GRANTED    THE     SPECIAL 
PENSION    OF  $  180,  AND    SO  WHO    RETIRED    FX5R 
DISABILITY     ARE  NOT   INCLUDED    IN  THIS    TABLE. 


50 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN    TEACHERS 


TABLE  13.    TOTAL  PENSION  FROM  ALL  SOURCES  RECEIVED  BY 
A  SAMPLE  GROUP  OF  RETIRED  BOSTON  WOMEN  TEACHERS 


AMOUNT  OF  PENSION 

Number  of  Teachers 

Total,       .      .'     

1151 

None,      

1 

Less  than  $150,   •*                          .... 

1 

$150-200, 

3 

$201-250,     

2 

$251-300,                                              .... 

5 

$301-350, 

22 

$351-400,     

4 

$401-450,          .           

6 

$451-500,     

16 

$501-550, 

7 

$551-600,     

26 

$601-650,     

10 

$651-700, 

5 

$701-750,     

2 

$751-800,     

3 

Unknown,    

2 

iSeven  of  these  teachers  retired  for  disability. 

teachers  in  the  first  group  are  those  who,  retiring  before  1908, 
receive  the  $180  rate;  the  37  teachers  in  the  second  group  are 
elementary  teachers  or  assistants  in  charge  who,  retiring  before 
the  raise  in  salaries,  receive  $312  and  $372*  respectively;  the  29 
teachers  in  the  third  group  are  those  who  retired  after  the  salary 
raise  and  are  of  different  ranks.  Five  teachers  only  receive  from 
$550  to  $600,  the  amount  all  teachers  will  receive  in  the  future. 
Two-thirds  of  the  115  receive  not  more  than  $400.  When,  however, 
the  allowances  from  the  three  sources  are  considered,  one-third 
of  the  115  teachers  receive  not  more  than  $400,  and  one-half  more 
than  $500. 

As  three-quarters  of  the  state  teachers  receive  $400  or  less,  it 
is  clear  that  the  Boston  pensions  average  higher  than  those  of  the 
state.  This  would  remain  true  if  the  annuities  from  the  Massachu- 
setts Guild  were  added  to  the  state  pensions.  In  the  future  both 
state  and  Boston  teachers  will  receive  larger  pensions;  the  Boston 
pension  will  be  limited  to  $720  while  the  state  pension,  since  it 
will  be  based  on  contributions  from  greatly  increased  salaries, 

lOne  of  these  teachers  received  a  disability  allowance. 


OLD— AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS  51 

will  continue  to  rise.    But  at  present  neither  state  nor  city  supplies 
an  adequate  income  for  a  teacher's  old  age. 

Disability  Allowances  of  Boston  and  State  Teachers 

The  incomes  from  pensions  paid  to  teachers  who  were  obliged  to 
give  up  work  on  account  of  illness,  temporary  or  permanent,  are 
still  more  inadequate.  Disabled  state  teachers,  for  example,  who 
have  served  twenty  years  or  more  and  have  retired  since  1917, 
draw  a  much  smaller  income  than  the  superannuated.  Of  33 
disabled  teachers,  13  receive  from  $200  to  $250  a  year;  13  more  from 
$250  to  $300.  Five  teachers  receive  less  than  $200  and  only  one 
over  $300.!  State  teachers  who  are  disabled  before  they  have 
served  twenty  years  are  not  entitled  to  any  pension. 

The  disability  provisions  for  Boston  teachers  are  somewhat 
more  liberal.  Nineteen  of  the  50  disabled  teachers  receive  a  pen- 
sion of  more  than  $300.  The  largest  group  receive  between  $200 
and  $300.  Even  with  the  addition  of  $120  from  the  Retirement 
Fund  and  $40  from  the  Mutual  Benefit,  these  pensions  are  small. 
The  inadequacy  is  more  evident  when  the  situations  of  seven 
teachers  who  retired  for  disability  are  studied.  In  the  group  of 
115  teachers,  there  were  eighteen  who  had  served  full  terms  but 
had  retired  before  they  were  65  on  account  of  ill-health,  but  these 
seven  had  served  less  than  30  years  and  were  obliged  to  accept 
pensions  less  than  the  legal  minimum  for  the  superannuated. 
One  of  these  teachers  has  no  pension  from  any  source;  another  has 
only  $120  from  the  Retirement  Fund;  the  others  receive  varying 
amounts;  one  as  much  as  $407  from  all  sources.  One  teacher  who 
is  totally  blind  has  a  pension  of  $317  a  year,  but  fortunately  has  a 
sister  on  whom  to  depend.  Another,  nervously  worn  out,  is  al- 
most completely  supported  by  her  mother,  who  happens  to  be  in 
comfortable  circumstances.  Had  the  mother  been  dependent  on 
the  teacher's  earnings,  the  situation  would  be  distressing.  Possibly 
the  teacher  who  is  drawing  the  largest  of  these  disability  allow- 
ances is  more  typical.  She  inherited  an  old  and  rundown  house 
which  she  finally  succeeded  in  selling  for  half  the  assessed  value. 
The  net  profits  from  the  sale  were  $700  on  which  she  is  now  living. 
She  is  54  years  old,  alone  in  the  world,  afflicted  with  arthritis  and 

ilnformation  obtained  from  records  of  Massachusetts  Teachers'  Retirement  Association. 


52  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

heart  trouble.   She  is  afraid  that  if  she  lives,  she  will  soon  be  obliged 
to  seek  the  assistance  of  charity. 

Amount  Necessary  to  Supplement  Pensions 

How  much  should  pensions  be  supplemented  in  order  to  provide 
a  sufficient  income  on  which  an  old  or  sick  teacher  can  live  in 
reasonable  comfort?  The  minimum  on  which  an  active,  single 
woman  can  live  has  been  variously  estimated  by  the  Massachu- 
setts Minimum  Wage  Commission.  One  of  the  latest  awards,1 
made  to  women  workers  in  the  paper  box  industry,  in  May,  1920, 
is  $15.50  a  week  or  $806  a  year.  The  amount  needed  for  board  is 
set  at  $9.00  a  week.  Teachers  in  Massachusetts  paid  an  average 
board  of  $10.76  a  week  in  1920.2  A  retired  teacher  may  not  need 
as  much  food  as  a  younger  woman,  but  she  will  require  extra  com- 
forts and  medical  care.  Moreover,  all  teachers  have  had  certain 
educational  advantages  and  have  been  accustomed  to  standards 
of  living  superior  to  what  would  be  expected  by  workers  in  paper 
box  factories.  As  yet  no  commission  has  estimated  the  amount 
necessary  for  the  support  of  such  women. 

Possibly  the  experiences  of  some  of  the  teachers  studied  may 
throw  some  light  on  this  question.  One  teacher  writes  that  "A 
woman  with  an  income  of  $10  a  week  can  live  comfortably  in  the 
country  by  keeping  house  in  one  or  two  rooms  and  having  a  gar- 
den." Her  income  from  pensions  is  $536  a  year.  She  allows  her- 
self only  $3  a  week  for  food  and  mentions  milk  at  twelve  cents  a 
quart  as  an  important  item  in  her  budget.  She  is  saving  $100  a 
year  for  the  future  when  she  may  be  too  feeble  to  care  for  herself. 
Another  woman  is  living  in  the  city  on  a  pension  of  $10  a  week. 
She  manages  to  pay  the  rent  of  two  cheap  rooms  and  to  buy  food 
sparingly.  She  spends  much  of  her  time  in  making  over  old 
clothes  as  she  has  been  able  to  buy  nothing,  not  even  a  pair  of 
shoes,  since  she  retired  two  years  ago.  Another  teacher,  with 
only  her  pension  to  depend  on,  is  "grateful  when  she  is  asked  out  to 
dinner."  Although  we  have  found  teachers  in  good  health  living 
like  this  on  an  income  of  $500  or  $600  a  year,  it  does  not  seem  un- 
reasonable to  suggest  that  a  retired  teacher  should  have  more  than 

iThe  latest  award,  December  30,  1920,  was  for  women  in  the  office  and  other  building 
cleaners'  occupations,  $15.40  weekly. 

2This  figure  is  based  on  the  report  of  the  Teachers'  Commission  on  Salaries,  1920,  p.  126. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


53 


the  $806  a  year  and  that,  at  least  in  Boston,  $1000  a  year  would 
not  be  an  extravagant  estimate. 

If  $1000  a  year  is  taken  as  a  reasonable  standard  for  an  elderly 
lady,  the  retired  teacher  would  have  to  supplement  her  pension 
to  a  large  extent.  The  state  teacher  with  a  pension  between  $300 
and  $400  would  need  $600  or  $700  more,  and  the  Boston  teacher 
with  a  pension  of  $500  or  $600  would  need  $400  or  $500.  The 
teacher  retiring  today,  as  has  been  emphasized,  will  find  that  her 
deficit  is  smaller.  If  the  average  salary  of  all  state  teachers,  in- 
cluding Boston,  is  $1326  in  1920,  the  state  teacher  would  have  to 
make  up  a  deficit  of  something  like  $400  and  a  Boston  teacher  a 
deficit  of  $280. 


TABLE    14.      FUNDS1    ACCUMULATED    FROM    SAVINGS    BY 
SAMPLE   GROUP  OF  BOSTON   RETIRED   TEACHERS 


AMOUNT  OF  SAVINGS 

Number  of  Teachers  who  Reported 
Amount  of  Savings  as  Specified  : 

Total,       
No  savings,        ....... 
$100  and  less,          

115 
21 
1 

$101-500, 

10 

$501-1000,  
$1001-1500,       

8 
2 

$1501-2000,       

8 

$2001-2500,       
$2501-3000,       
$3001-3500,       
$3501-4000,       
$4501-5000,       
$5001-5500,       
$5501-10,000,    
Over  10,000,      

3 
6 
2 
5 

1 
2 
4 
52 

Unknown,    

37 

iThese  savings  do  not  include  savings  in  the  form  of  contributions  toward  the  Boston  Re- 
tirement Fund  and  Mutual  Benefit  Societies. 
2Three  saved  more  than  $15,000. 

Savings  as  a  Resource  for  After-Retirement  Support 

The  limitation  of  a  pension  as  an  old  age  provision  was  un- 
doubtedly recognized  by  the  founders  of  the  pension  system. 
Savings  should  be  considered  as  important  and  legitimate  sources 


54  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

of  income.  As  one  teacher  wrote  in  discussing  her  savings,  "The 
feeling  of  independence  and  security  thus  gained  (by  saving) 
can  never  be  attained  by  any  pension  or  other  gratuitous  provision 
that  could  be  made."  The  amounts  saved  by  the  group  of  115 
teachers  have  therefore  been  studied.  Little  information  about 
these  savings,  however,  was  obtainable.  No  retired  teachers  de- 
pendent on  state  pensions  were  seen,  and  a  third  of  the  Boston 
teachers  were  unwilling  to  state  the  amounts  which  they  had  been 
able  to  set  aside  from  their  earnings.  Savings,  they  said,  were  too 
private  a  matter  for  discussion,  one  announcing  that  she  would 
tell  no  one,  not  even  her  brother.  Of  the  remaining  78  teachers 
who  were  more  communicative,  21  said  they  had  saved  absolutely 
nothing  for  use  after  retirement.  The  table  preceding  gives  the 
amounts  saved.  Table  14. 

These  sums  are  remarkably  small.  Eleven  teachers  who  did 
not  save  more  than  $500  might  almost  be  classed  with  the  21  who 
had  saved  nothing.  Of  the  remaining  46,  one-half  saved  no  more 
than  $3000  and  only  a  quarter  more  than  $5000.  The  five 
teachers  who  saved  more  than  $10,000  were  evidently  excep- 
tional. To  sum  up:  of  115  Boston  teachers  slightly  less  than 
one-third  saved  nothing  or  almost  nothing;  one-third  saved  some- 
thing but  refused  to  state  the  amount;1  slightly  more  than  one- 
third  saved  varying  amounts  of  which  one-half  were  not  more 
than  $3000. 

Value  of  Savings  Measured  in  Annuities 

The  value  of  such  savings  to  the  teachers  at  retirement  may  be 
represented  by  the  value  of  the  annuities  which  they  would  pur- 
chase. Figures  from  the  Massachusetts  Savings  Bank  Insurance 
are  quoted  below  as  they  give  rather  more  reasonable  rates  than 
commercial  insurance  companies. 

At  the  age  of  65  the  following  amounts  will  purchase  annuities 
through  the  Massachusetts  Savings  Bank  Life  Insurance  as  specified: 


SI,  000  savings 

$95  .  80  annuity 

2,000 

it 

191.60 

H 

3,000 

It 

287.40 

u 

4,000 

u 

383.20 

(I 

5,000 

(t 

479.00 

tt 

iThe  visitors  estimate  that  with  two  exceptions  none   of   these  women  saved  more  than 
$10,000. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS  55 

One-half  of  the  teachers  who  saved  as  above,  therefore,  provided 
they  waited  until  they  were  65,  could  invest  their  savings  in  an- 
nuities which  would  amount  to  over  $350  a  year;  one-quarter 
more  could  get  annuities  of  nearly  $200  a  year;  the  remainder  con- 
siderably less.  Only  three  of  the  retired  teachers  actually  did 
invest  in  annuities.  A  few  drew  a  high  rate  of  interest  from  stocks 
or  bonds,  but  the  majority  received  a  low  rate  of  interest  from 
savings  banks.1  Hence  the  actual  value  of  the  savings  to  the  462 
teachers  who  saved,  is  considerably  less  than  that  represented  by 
the  annuities. 

Benefits  from  savings  which  the  teachers  must  have  anticipated 
have  been  sadly  diminished  by  the  decrease  in  the  purchasing 
power  of  money.  The  Teachers'  Commission  on  Salaries3  esti- 
mates that  the  teachers  cost  of  living  from  1910  to  1920  has  risen 
99.7  per  cent.  In  other  words  the  dollar  is  worth  just  half  as 
much  as  in  1910.  The  saving  of  $2000  in  the  past  must  have  cost 
the  teacher  the  same  self-denial  which  is  required  today  for  the 
saving  of  $4000. 

Reasons  for  Small  Amounts  Saved 

Taking  into  consideration  the  change  in  the  value  of  money, 
the  savings  of  these  teachers  still  seem  unreasonably  small  and 
require  some  explanation.  Low  salaries,  family  cares,  illness, 
possibility  of  inheritance,  and  lack  of  thrift,  factors  already  dis- 
cussed at  length  in  the  preceding  section  as  influencing  the  savings 
of  active  teachers,  were  responsible  also  for  the  meagre  savings  of 
the  retired  teachers.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  relative  impor- 
tance of  these  factors.  Should  the  greater  responsibility  be 
charged  to  low  salaries  or  to  lack  of  thrift? 

The  different  points  of  view  of  the  teachers  may  be  enlightening. 
One  of  the  attitudes  often  met  was  a  blind  faith  in  Providence. 
As  one  teacher  remarked,  "I  never  worried  about  the  future.  I 
gave  every  cent  to  my  family  and  trusted  that  the  Lord  would  pro- 
vide and  He  has."  Other  teachers,  who  were  not  so  fortunate 
as  to  be  provided  for  by  unexpected  legacies,  blamed  themselves 
bitterly  for  not  saving  while  they  had  a  chance.  One  teacher  said 

lEight  teachers  invested  in  insurance  and  13  in  real  estate. 
«The  savings  of  37  other  teachers  are  unknown. 
•Report  1920,  p.  27. 


56  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

frankly  that  she  had  been  improvident  and  spent  her  salary  on 
clothes  and  amusements.  Others  believed  that,  while  saving  was 
desirable,  it  was  impossible  for  them.  One  writes,  "I  saved  noth- 
ing from  my  meagre  salary  during  48  years  continuous  service. 
But  if  there  had  not  been  others  I  was  in  duty  bound  to  assist, 
I  might  have  saved  a  little  for  myself."  The  other  point  of  view, 
that  material  savings  were  possible,  is  illustrated  by  the  experience 
of  one  lady  who  succeeded  in  saving  $9000  from  a  first  assistant's 
salary.  Although  she  had  a  sick  sister  dependent  on  her,  every 
month  she  put  a  little  something  in  the  savings  bank.  She 
scrimped  and  scraped,  she  did  not  go  to  concerts  or  theatres,  she 
has  never  been  outside  Massachusetts  in  her  life,  she  made  many 
of  her  clothes,  and  walked  when  she  wished  to  take  the  street  car. 
By  still  practising  such  economies,  she  manages  to  get  along  on 
her  income  from  these  savings  and  her  pension,  which  amount  to 
a  little  over  $800  a  year,  the  minimum  wage  standard. 

Large  Savings  of  Exceptional  Women 

More  substantial  savings  were  possible  to  some  unusual  women. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  five  of  the  teachers  visited  had  accumu- 
lated more  than  $10,000  from  their  savings.  The  experiences  of 
the  two  who  had  the  largest  sums  are  worth  mentioning.  One  who 
had  no  resource  other  than  the  salary  of  an  elementary  teacher,  at 
retirement  had  accumulated  $25,000  by  fortunate  investments  in 
real  estate.  The  other  had  a  capital  of  $20,000.  She  had  not  been 
exempt  from  family  cares,  but  had  supported  her  mother  entirely 
and  her  father  partially,  and  after  their  deaths,  helped  two  widowed 
sisters.  "When  I  was  32  years  old,  and  had  taught  14  years,  I 
had  $25  in  the  savings  bank.  I  was  then  earning  $400  a  year. 
Seven  years  later,  I  came  to  Boston  at  a  salary  of  $1500.  For 
twenty-five  subsequent  years  I  had  the  first  assistant's  place  and  a 
salary  of  $1620.  When  I  came  to  Boston  I  had  accumulated  for 
my  twenty-one  years'  service  $2000;  when  I  retired  I  had  perhaps 
$20,000."  It  should  be  noted  that  this  teacher  must  have  had 
unusual  ability  for  she  obtained  one  of  the  highest  salaries  paid 
in  her  day.  The  other,  who  was  quoted,  must  either  have  had  ex- 
ceptional business  acumen  or  remarkably  good  luck.  The  average 
teacher,  no  matter  how  thrifty,  could  not  have  saved  such  amounts. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  57 

No  doubt  all  teachers  might  have  saved  something  if  they  had  been 
willing  to  economize  in  every  possible  way,  but  it  seems  fair  to 
assume  that  low  salaries  have  made  substantial  savings  for  most 
teachers  impossible. 

Total  Income  Received  by  Boston  Teachers  from  Earnings  and  Pensions 
After  this  discussion  of  the  amounts  which  the  teachers  suc- 
ceeded in  saving,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  savings  did  not 
supplement  pensions  to  any  adequate  degree,  and  that  the  two 
sources,  taken  together,  do  not  approach  a  possible  living  allow- 
ance for  the  majority  of  the  retired  teachers.  The  total  incomes 
available  from  earnings  to  94  teachers  are  shown  in  Table  15. 

TABLE  15.    ANNUAL  INCOMES  OF  RETIRED  BOSTON  TEACHERS 
FROM  PENSIONS  AND  SAVINGS  FROM  SALARIES 


AMOUNT  OF  INCOME  PER  YEAR 

Number  of  Teachers 

Total, 

115 

$300  and  less,    . 

91 

$301-400,     

12 

$401-500,     

10 

$501-600,     

25 

$601-700, 

21 

$701-800,     

8 

$801-900, 

4 

$901-1000,  

2 

Over  $1000,  

32 

Unknown, 

21 

lOne  Disabled ;  and  1  has  No  Income. 
Slncome  of  2  over  $15,000. 

Twenty-one  of  the  women  refused  to  state  the  amounts  of  their 
annual  incomes.  It  is  noticeable  that  only  three  teachers  have 
more  than  $1000  a  year,  the  amount  taken  as  desirable.  On  the 
contrary  the  most  common  incomes  are  those  between  $500  and 
$600  and  $600  to  $700.  Only  one-fifth  of  the  group  receive  more 
than  $700,  while  a  third  receive  under  or  not  more  than  $500. 
Nine  teachers  have  $300  or  less. 

A  mere  glance  at  these  figures  shows  that  these  94  women,  at 
any  rate,  have  not  secured  from  their  profession  a  living  wage, 


58  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

that  is,  the  amount  necessary  to  support  them  during  retirement 
as  well  as  in  active  life.  An  argument  to  prove  the  inadequacy 
of  these  incomes  is  unnecessary.  The  amount  which  their  in- 
comes fall  short  of  a  bare  minimum  is  suggested  by  a  comparison 
with  the  Minimum  Wage  figure.  Teachers  may  be  called  un- 
thrifty; the  shrinkage  of  the  dollar  may  be  held  partly  accountable 
for  the  low  value  of  their  savings.  The  fact  nevertheless  remains 
that  the  representatives  of  the  public  who  have  fixed  the  economic 
returns  of  the  profession,  must  be  charged  with  the  main  responsi- 
bility. They  have  permitted  refined  and  educated  women  after 
thirty  or  forty  years  of  service  to  the  children  of  the  public  schools 
to  become  partially  dependent. 

Sources  from  which  Incomes  from  Earnings  are  Supplemented 

Thirteen  only  of  the  retired  teachers  in  the  group  of  115  were 
found  living  on  the  proceeds  of  their  profession.  The  others  had 
all  found  means  to  supplement  their  incomes.  Legacies  were  the 
most  common  resource;  generous  relatives  and  friends  or  some 
form  of  paid  work  were  the  main  reliance  of  others;  a  few  too 
feeble  to  work  were  obliged  to  accept  help  from  charitable  sources. 
Inheritances  were  found  to  be  the  most  important  supplementary 
source.  Two-thirds  of  the  group  had  legacies  of  some  kind; 
more  than  one-third  had  legacies  of  over  $5000  in  value.  It  was 
impossible  to  get  at  the  exact  amount  of  many  of  these  inheri- 
tances, but  some  of  the  teachers,  receiving  more  than  $5000  were 
living  in  comfort  and  three  or  four  in  comparative  luxury.  The 
inheritances  of  five  at  least  were  not  more  than  $1000.  Those 
of  others  consisted  of  run  down  real  estate  or,  in  a  few  cases,  of 
abandoned  farms,  both  of  which  were  likely  to  be  liabilities  rather 
than  assets.  Though  the  amounts  inherited  often  were  small, 
they  saved  many  from  the  possible  fate  recognized  by  one  teacher 
who  said,  "Had  it  not  been  for  legacies  which  came  to  me  it  would 
have  been  necessary  for  me  to  find  some  employment  after  leav- 
ing the  service."  Sixteen  of  the  teachers  whose  city  pensions  are 
$180,  and  sixteen  more  whose  savings  were  negligible,  fortunately 
were  remembered  in  this  way  by  their  families.  The  situation  of 
two  of  these  is  typical  of  others.  One  has  no  pension  from  the 
city;  the  other  has  $180;  both  have  annuities  to  the  amount  of 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  59 

$160  a  year  from  the  Retirement  and  Mutual  Benefit  Funds; 
both  inherited  exactly  the  same  amounts,  or  incomes  of  $800  a 
year.  The  first,  who  is  crippled  with  rheumatism,  lives  with  a 
friend  in  a  comfortable  apartment  with  a  maid;  the  other,  83 
years  old  is  obliged  to  care  for  two  sick,  elderly  nephews  and  is 
struggling  to  keep  up  the  interest  on  the  mortgage  which  encum- 
bers the  dilapidated  family  home.  What  would  have  happened 
to  these  two  old  ladies  if  they  had  not  had  resources  aside  from 
their  profession? 

Forced  by  actual  lack  of  food  and  of  other  necessities,  they  might 
have  received  assistance  from  the  two  funds  which  were  organized 
for  the  benefit  of  needy  teachers.  The  first,  or  Billings  Fund,  was 
left  by  Robert  Charles  Billings  for  the  benefit  of  members  of  the 
Mutual  Benefit  Association  who  were  in  "mental  and  physical 
distress."  The  income  is  at  present  being  granted  to  twelve  re- 
tired teachers  who  receive  $40  each  and  an  occasional  extra  pres- 
ent. The  second  or  Teachers'  Relief  Fund  was  founded  in  1910 
by  active  teachers  who  sympathized  with  the  sufferings  of  their 
impoverished  professional  associates.  The  Committee  which 
administers  this  fund  summarizes  the  causes  of  teachers'  poverty 
as  follows:  (1)  "Long  continued  personal  illness;  (2)  loyalty 
to  family  requiring  maintenance  of  home,  education  of  younger 
members  of  family,  assistance  during  the  illness  of  members  of 
family;  (3)  old  age  with  no  younger  generation  to  whom  one 
can  rightfully  turn;  (4)  poor  investments."1  Appeals  for  contri- 
butions are  made  to  all  members  of  the  Teachers'  Clubs  and  usu- 
ally these  vary  from  $1100  to  $1800  a  year.  One  year,  by  special 
appeal,  $3600  was  collected.  To  quote  from  the  treasurer's  re- 
port, "The  year  1919-1920  finds  twenty  beneficiaries  on  our  list, 
five  of  whom  are  over  eighty  years  of  age.  Two  are  ill  with  tuber- 
culosis,2 two  more  are  afflicted  with  the  loss  of  the  sense  of  hear- 
ing, others  are  shut  away  from  work  from  other  causes  and  are 
finding  difficulty  in  meeting  the  needs  of  today  with  the  incomes 
of  yesterday.  *  *  *  The  majority  are  receiving  quarterly  pay- 
ments which  vary  in  amount  from  $15  to,  in  one  case,  $50  a 
quarter."3 

iReport  of  Relief  Committee,  1918. 

2The  Teachers  Relief  Fund  also  makes  a  special  effort  to  help  disabled  teachers. 

SReport  of  Relief  Committee,  1918. 


60  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

Four  of  the  teachers  visited  acknowledged  that  they  were  re- 
ceiving assistance  from  these  funds,  and  judging  from  the  fact 
that  the  funds  have  a  list  of  32  beneficiaries,  it  is  probable  that 
others  were  too  proud  to  admit  that  they  also  were  in  receipt  of 
such  aid.  The  situation  of  one  of  these  beneficiaries,  who  was 
seen,  probably  is  not  unusual.  Though  an  old-fashioned  gentle- 
woman over  80  years  old,  she  is  nevertheless  obliged  to  live  in  an 
unheated,  ugly  room  of  a  third-rate  boarding  house.  The  com- 
bined effort  of  the  agent  of  the  Teachers'  Relief  Fund  and  of  a 
nephew  enable  her  to  supplement  her  meagre  pension  and  savings 
sufficiently  to  meet  her  board  of  $8  a  week. 

The  most  important  supplementary  sources  of  income  other 
than  inheritance  were  aid  from  relatives  and  part-time  earnings. 
Thirty-five  had  earned  something  since  retirement  and  27  were 
being  helped  by  relatives.  Of  these  27,  twenty-four  lived  either 
with  sisters  or  other  relations,  and  paid  a  small  board;  the  others 
received  gifts  of  money.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  aid  given 
in  this  way.  Instances  of  disabled  teachers  dependent  on  their 
families  have  already  been  cited,  and  illustrate  well  the  kind  of 
aid  given  the  old  teacher.  Only  occasionally  was  the  help  given 
grudgingly.  One  old  lady,  whose  mind  was  almost  gone,  makes 
her  home  with  a  widowed  sister  whose  own  income  is  inadequate. 
The  sister  keeps  her  warm  and  gives  her  enough  to  eat,  but  does 
not  take  the  trouble  to  treat  her  with  kindness  or  to  give  the 
needed  physical  care. 

The  assistance  given  by  friends  to  six  of  the  teachers  is  similar 
to  that  given  by  relatives.  The  situation  of  one  of  these  is  a  pleas- 
ant contrast  to  that  just  described.  This  old  lady,  over  65  years 
of  age,  retired  twenty  years  ago  on  a  total  pension  of  $180  and  a 
small  savings  bank  account.  She  pays  a  board  of  $5  a  week  for 
a  very  pleasant  home,  the  same  board  that  she  paid  twenty  years 
ago.  Her  landlady,  on  whom  she  has  no  real  claim,  has  taken 
pains  to  hide  from  her  the  fact  that  the  cost  of  living  has  gone 
up  and  that  her  payments  do  not  cover  her  expenses. 

Although  thirty-five  women  supplemented  their  incomes  by 
finding  some  work,  the  amounts  earned  at  different  times  since 
retirement  are  small.  Eighteen  were  unable  to  estimate  their 
yearly  earnings;  the  others  earned  anywhere  from  S780  a  year  for 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  61 

full  time  work  to  $50  a  year  for  crocheting.  Two  have  done  tutor- 
ing, another  who  has  lost  the  power  of  speech,  makes  preserves 
and  earns  about  $100  a  year.  Probably  few  have  ever  earned 
more  than  $200  or  $300  a  year.  Only  two,  including  the  one  who 
earned  the  largest  sum  mentioned,  worked  full  time.  Both  re- 
tired on  account  of  disability,  deafness  and  nervousness,  before 
the  age  of  65.  The  teacher  retiring  at  the  age  of  50  on  a  pension  of 
$432  a  year,  first  found  a  position  as  companion  at  $25  a  month, 
later  as  a  teacher  of  English  to  private  pupils  at  $50  a  month, 
and  is  now  a  government  clerk.  The  teacher  who  retires  at  65  or 
70  must  be  content  with  occupations  which  require  less  strength 
and  bring  in  less  return.  Table  28. 

All  the  thirty-one  teachers,  whose  incomes  are  $500  or  less  help 
meet  their  living  expenses  from  one  or  more  of  these  sources. 
Nineteen  have  inheritances;  7  are  able  to  earn  a  little;  13  are 
cared  for  by  relatives;  2  are  drawing  allowances  from  the  Teachers' 
Funds  and  two  more  are  in  old  ladies'  homes.  Often  reliance  on 
more  than  one  form  of  aid  is  necessary.  One  old  lady  with  a  pen- 
sion of  $337  lives  with  a  niece,  has  used  her  inheritance  of  $2000, 
received  presents  from  a  friend  and  a  Christmas  gift  from  the 
Teachers'  Relief  Fund.  Another  supplemented  her  pension  of 
$160  a  year,  her  minute  savings  and  inheritance,  by  a  generous 
gift  from  the  Teachers'  Relief  Fund,  which  enabled  her  to  pay  for 
admission  to  an  old  ladies'  home. 

Thirteen  teachers,  as  stated  before,  manage  to  get  on  without 
any  of  these  forms  of  assistance.  Their  pensions,  as  might  be 
expected,  are,  with  two  exceptions,  among  the  largest  granted. 
All  but  two  others  had  saved  an  appreciable  amount.  Of  the  two 
entirely  dependent  on  their  pensions,  one  receives  a  total  of  $724 
and  the  other  a  total  of  $589  a  year.  Both  had  been  forced  to  use 
their  savings  to  pay  doctors'  bills.  Fortunate  legacies  and  the 
assistance  of  friends  and  relatives  relieves  the  remaining  102 
teachers  from  the  necessity  of  becoming  dependent  on  charity. 

CONCLUSION 

If  it  is  admitted  that  a  woman's  profession  should  yield  sufficient 
income  for  maintenance  after  a  lifetime  of  working,  the  study  of 
the  experiences  of  these  women  teachers  forces  us  to  the  conclusion 


62  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

that  the  teaching  profession  has  not  measured  up  to  this  require- 
ment. It  has  been  a  parasitic  profession  because  its  members 
have  been  and  still  are  obliged  to  seek  assistance  from  other 
sources  in  order  to  supply  a  bare  living.  Remedies  for  the 
benefit  of  the  active  teachers  are  being  worked  out.  Their 
salaries  are  being  raised  with  resulting  increases  in  future  pen- 
sions and  in  possible  savings.  No  plan  has  as  yet  been  recom- 
mended to  compensate  the  teachers  already  retired,  for  the 
sufferings  entailed  by  the  low  salaries  of  the  past  and  by  the 
unforeseen  rise  in  the  cost  of  living.  Would  it  not  be  fair  to 
adjust  their  pensions  so  that  they  will  approximate  those  paid 
to  teachers  of  corresponding  ranks  who  retire  in  1921? 


CHAPTER  IV 

OLD-AGE   LIVING    CONDITIONS  OF  RETIRED 
BOSTON    TEACHERS 

A  well-rounded  picture  of  the  old-age  life  of  the  teacher  requires 
answers  to  such  questions  as :  For  how  long  an  after  retirement 
period  must  she  provide?  Does  she  seek  a  new  environment  or 
remain  with  old  associates?  Is  she  able  to  continue  the  same 
standard  of  living?  Does  she  live  alone  or  as  a  part  of  a  family 
group?  To  what  extent  has  she  cared  for  dependents?  Is  she, 
in  turn,  being  helped?  Does  she  desire  associates  of  her  own  age 
or  prefer  younger  companions?  Does  she  maintain  her  general 
social  interests?  To  what  extent  does  she  engage  in  part-time 
paid  work?  Is  she  happy? 

Probable  Length  of  Life  After  Retirement 

To  revert  to  the  first  proposition,  for  just  how  long  a  period  is 
it  reasonable  for  a  teacher  to  expect  to  live  after  retirement? 
The  largest  numbers  of  Massachusetts  teachers  retire  at  the  ages 
of  60  and  70.  Table  2.  Since  1908,  when  the  city  pension  system 
went  into  effect,  over  three-sevenths  of  the  Boston  teachers  have 
retired  when  they  were  65  to  70  years  of  age.  Table  1.  For  pur- 
poses of  comparison  with  other  data,  let  us  consider  the  teachers' 
probable  expectations  of  life  at  the  ages  of  62,  67,  and  72.  For 
persons  of  these  ages  the  American  Experience  Table  of  Mortality 
gives  the  following  average  expectations  of  life:  one  62  years  of 
age  may  anticipate  12.8  years,  while  one  67  may  look  forward  to 
10.0  years,  and  one  72  has  7.5  years  ahead.  The  records  of  the 
Boston  Teachers'  Retirement  Association  covering  20  years  and 
showing  90  deaths,  may  be  expected  to  reveal  an  average  trend. 
In  comparison  with  the  standard  expectation  rates  just  quoted, 
these  records  show  the  average  length  of  life  to  teachers  retiring 
at  different  ages  to  be  as  follows:  62,  9.4  years;  67,  8.9  years;  72, 
6.5  years.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that,  since  the  data  covers 
a  period  of  only  twenty  years,  a  disproportionate  number  of  the 


64  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

short-lived  teachers  are  included.  It  seems  probable  that  at  a 
later  date,  when  full  returns  supply  the  length  of  life  of  those  of 
greater  longevity,  the  average  will  be  raised  so  that  it  will  equal 
or  possibly  exceed  the  average  of  the  American  Table.1 

Of  these  90  women  who  have  died  since  1900,  one-third  lived 
less  than  five  years,  three-fifths  lived  less  than  ten  years,  and  only 
7  survived  15  years  or  longer.  Though  but  one  woman  of  this 
group  lived  to  be  over  79  years  old,  this  does  not  indicate  that 
school  teachers  are  never  long  lived,  for  the  investigators  found 
thirteen  old  ladies  who  were  80  years  of  age  or  over.  When  their 
length  of  life  is  averaged  with  that  of  the  other  teachers,  the  result 
will  show  a  considerable  increase  in  the  average  expectation  of 
life  of  the  group. 

Even  those  teachers  who  retired  because  of  invalidity  rather 
than  because  of  length  of  service  were  in  need  of  substantial  sums 
in  order  to  provide  themselves  with  support  and  medical  care. 
While  their  average  length  of  life  was  5  years  less  than  the  average 
computed  in  the  American  Experience  Table,  only  8  of  them  died 
within  5  years,  the  remainder  lived  between  5  and  15  years. 
Table  16. 

While  the  average  for  the  teachers  who  retire  for  invalidity 
is  9  years  and  for  those  retiring  because  of  length  of  service  is 
9.4,  8.9,  6.5  years  according  to  the  age  of  retirement,  this  by  no 
means  represents  the  old-age  period  for  which  thrifty  and  far- 
sighted  teachers  should  make  provision.  None  can  be  sure  that 
she  will  fail  to  reach  the  maximum  length  of  life  which  has  been 
estimated  at  95  years.  This  would  necessitate  providing  for  an 
old-age  period  varying  from  25  to  35  years. 

What  Becomes  of  the  Teacher  After  Retirement 

Just  what  does  become  of  the  teacher  after  she  retires?  Being 
no  longer  " Johnnie's  Teacher,"  she  usually  slips  from  the  public 
eye.  There  are  three  aspects  to  her  disappearance:  First,  does 
she  remain  in  the  same  geographical  location?  If  so,  does  she  con- 
tinue to  live  in  about  the  same  section  of  the  city  and  to  enjoy 

iThe  records  of  the  State  Teachers'  Retirement  Association  show  59  deaths.  One  of 
these  persons  lived  to  be  over  79  years  of  age.  However,  these  records  date  only  from  1914 
and  the  deaths  of  many  old  teachers  now  living  will  modify  any  average  expectation  of  life 
which  might  be  computed  from  records  of  the  State  Retirement  Association.  Appendix, 
Table  33,  34. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


65 


TABLE  16.   NUMBER  OF  YEARS  INTERVENING  BETWEEN 

RETIREMENT  AND  DEATH  OF  BOSTON  WOMEN  TEACHERS, 

BASED  ON  RECORDS  OF  THE  TEACHERS'  RETIREMENT 

ASSOCIATION.     1900-1920 


Women  who  Retired  at  Ages  Specified 

AGES  AT 

and  who  Lived  for: 

RETIREMENT 

Less  than 

5  and  less 

10  and  less 

15  and  less 

Total 

5  years 

than  10  years 

than  15  years 

than  18  yearsZ 

All  Ages,       . 

90* 

30 

25 

28 

7 

Under  55  years, 

3 

— 

2 

1 

— 

55-59  years,     . 

18 

5 

7 

5 

1 

60-64  years,     . 

16 

3 

5 

6 

2 

65-69  years,     . 

27 

9 

5 

9 

4 

70-74  years,     . 

21 

10 

5 

6 

— 

75-79  years,     . 

4 

2 

1 

1 

— 

80  years  and    . 

over, 

1 

1 

— 

— 

— 

iThose  teachers  living  longer  than  20  years  after  retirement  are  not  included  in  this  table. 
The  investigators  found  that  13  of  the  115  retired  teachers  who  were  interviewed  were  80 
years  old  or  over,  while  22  were  from  75  to  79  years  old,  inclusive.  When  the  length  of  life 
of  these  is  added  to  the  others,  the  number  living  to  be  75  years  old  and  over  will  be  very 
much  increased. 

*None  over  18  years. 

her  old  associates?    And,  third,  is  it  possible  for  her  to  maintain 
the  same  standard  of  living  that  she  has  formerly  known? 

Of  the  299  women  teachers  on  the  Boston  Teachers'  pension 
list  at  the  time  of  this  report,  56.5  per  cent  were  living  in  Boston 
or  its  suburbs,  37.4  per  cent  in  New  England  other  than  Boston, 
and  6  per  cent  elsewhere  in  the  United  States  or  Canada.  The 
tendency,  then,  was  to  hover  around  New  England  and  princi- 
pally Boston.  We  have  no  data  for  these  299  which  would  answer 
our  second  question,  so  for  this  purpose  the  115  individually  visited 
will  be  used.  Of  this  number,  80.9  per  cent  remained  in  about 
the  same  section  of  the  city,  among  old  friends,  while  19.1  per 
cent  made  new  homes  and  new  acquaintances.  Although  these 
figures  seem  significant,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  all  but  4  of 
the  115  interviewed  were  living  in  Boston  and  its  suburbs  at  the 
time  they  were  visited.  It  was  impossible  to  obtain  schedules  for 
more  than  4  who  had  left  the  city.  Thus  it  is  evident  that  the 
data  collected  is  representative  of  a  group  who  naturally  would 
show  less  mobility  than  the  entire  body  of  retired  teachers. 


66  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

Is  the  teacher  able  to  maintain  the  same  standard  of  living? 
Considering  once  more  the  115  women  studied,  the  group  may  be 
divided  into  three  classes.  Over  one-half  were  found  living  in 
about  the  same  circumstances  maintained  while  they  were  teach- 
ing, about  one-tenth  had  bettered  themselves,  while  over  a  quarter 
of  the  number  had  been  forced  to  adopt  a  much  meaner  standard 
of  living.  Chart  VI. 

Most  cases  of  more  comfortable  living  had  been  made  possible 
by  inheritances  from  rich  relatives  or  by  the  solicitous  care  of  older 
brothers  or  other  devoted  members  of  the  family.  As  an  illustra- 
tion of  this,  one  teacher  was  found  living  with  her  sister  in  a  very 
lovely  part  of  the  city,  in  a  charming  house.  An  older  brother 
whom  she  had  helped  when  he  was  struggling  to  start  in  business 
had  bought  the  house  for  them,  supplied  coal  and  light,  leaving 
them  to  pay  only  for  their  personal  expenses.  Another  woman  had 
gone  to  live  with  a  widowed  sister  where  she  had  all  the  com- 
panionship and  comforts  of  a  home  of  luxury. 

But  those  who  visited  the  retired  teachers  quickly  forgot  the 
comforts  and  happiness  of  this  small  group  in  their  sympathy  for 
that  larger  number  found  living  in  meagre  circumstances  or  even 
in  dire  straits.  Teachers  who  are  women  of  culture  and  refinement 
must  suffer  keenly  from  such  radical  changes  in  their  living  condi- 
tions. Delicacy  forbids  our  describing  fully  the  sordidness  of  the 
surroundings  of  some  of  these  women,  but  let  us  picture  briefly  a 
few  of  the  homes  in  which  they  were  found. 

In  a  neglected  part  of  the  city,  the  visitor  was  admitted  to  a 
dark,  musty  hall  after  the  hollow  sounding  bell  had  jingled  its 
melancholy  note  many  times.  She  was  taken  to  the  kitchen,  the 
only  room  in  use,  where  a  feeble  fire  added  little  brightness  to  the 
grim  loneliness  of  its  inhabitants. 

In  one  case  the  inheritance  of  a  dilapidated  old  house  was  all 
that  had  enabled  the  woman  to  remain  independent.  This  house, 
unpainted  for  a  decade,  with  one  wall  leaning  and  crumbling,  and 
with  leaking  roof,  stood  a  mere  remnant  of  what  had  been  a  pros- 
perous home.  Once  on  a  popular,  residential  street,  it  now  stood 
unsalable,  in  a  forlorn  and  neglected  part  of  the  city,  though  still 
boasting  a  professional  sign — put  up  some  30  years  before — as  if 
to  lift  its  head  above  its  neighbors.  Inside,  there  were  some  books 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


67 


CMAKTIZI.      "RELATIVE     STANDARDS     OF   LIVING  OF    BOSTON 


RETIRED    TEACHERS. 


26.6 


61.7% 


SAME    AS    BEFORE    RETIRED 
BETTER . 
LOWERED  . 


DATA  USED  15  THE  INFORMATION    FROM    THE    115     TEACHERS 
STUDIED. 


68  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

in  beautiful  bindings,  chairs  of  the  colonial  period  but  with  the 
stuffing  falling  out  of  their  haircloth,  pictures  and  engravings  from 
England,  and  other  relics  of  a  better  day.  There  were  no  rugs 
upon  the  floor.  The  woman  could  afford  to  buy  neither  coal  to 
keep  her  warm  nor  food  to  nourish  her  adequately.  Her  only 
means  of  heat  were  the  gas  plate  in  the  kitchen  and  the  gas  grate 
in  the  parlor. 

Another  touching  instance  was  that  of  a  dainty  little  woman 
who  after  retirement  had  been  forced  to  sell  her  home  and  to  share 
rooms  with  a  family  of  much  lower  standards  than  her  own. 

Oil  burners  seemed  to  be  the  chief  heating  devices  of  these  un- 
fortunate women.  On  one  occasion  the  visitor  was  timidly  ad- 
mitted to  a  dark,  smelly  hall.  As  she  passed  by  an  open  door  she 
saw  another  little  old  lady  who,  in  her  last  sickness,  was  lying 
faded  and  still  in  her  bed.  Going  on,  the  feeble  guide  at  last 
brought  the  field  worker  to  her  own  living  quarters,  a  musty  and 
grimy  back  parlor,  heated  only  by  an  oil  burner  which  had  barely 
taken  the  chill  off  the  room  and  yet  had  made  it  foul  with  its  odors. 

Still  another  room  stands  out  in  the  memory  of  the  visitor.  It 
was  a  sitting  room  whose  walls  were  covered  with  paper  of  large, 
hideous,  red  figures.  In  some  places  the  plastering  was  about  to 
drop  from  the  ceiling,  in  other  spots  it  had  already  fallen  leaving 
large  strips  of  lath  visible.  Because  of  the  approaching  blindness 
of  the  tidy  little  ex-teacher,  the  room  was  mussy  and  dirty 
showing  signs  of  a  vain  endeavor  to  keep  house. 

Besides  the  run-down  family  homesteads  and  shabby  rooms  or 
apartments  there  were  also  the  decrepit  family  hotels  and  the  old 
ladies'  homes  to  which  these  teachers  had  turned  for  shelter. 
While  those  in  the  hotels  were  fairly  comfortable,  there  was  a  cer- 
tain air  of  sordidness  in  their  surroundings  suggesting  the  gradual 
decline  in  the  standards  of  these  places.  Taking  a  typical  case, 
when  the  teachers  first  came  to  the  hotel  there  were  two  janitors, 
an  elevator  and  all  corresponding  services.  Now  the  one  janitor 
comes  when  he  cares  to,  the  rooms  are  cold,  no  elevator  lightens  the 
burden  of  four  flights  of  dismal,  ill-smelling  stairs.  The  furnace 
heat  is  insufficient  and  often  the  gas  lights  are  allowed  to  burn 
throughout  the  day  to  supply  a  little  additional  warmth. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  69 

In  comparison  with  the  hotels,  the  two  old  ladies'  homes  seemed 
quite  attractive  since  they  were  immaculately  clean,  well-heated, 
and  suitably  furnished.  The  women  there  were  assured  necessary 
attendants,  medical  care  and  nursing.  While  these  institutions 
seemed  to  care  for  all  physical  needs,  the  associations  might  prove 
somewhat  wearing  for  women  of  education  and  refinement.  One 
retired  teacher  said  that  she  objected  to  an  old  ladies'  home  be- 
cause she  could  not  endure  constant  contact  with  women  who 
were  garrulous  and  empty-headed.  She  declared  that  silence  was 
her  refuge  and  that  she  wanted  to  enjoy  the  peace  of  quietude  dur- 
ing which  she  could  live  over  experiences  of  the  past. 

These  somewhat  distressing  pictures  of  the  surroundings  in 
which  retired  Boston  teachers  were  found  are  evidence  of  their 
inability  to  provide  themselves  with  old-age  homes  adapted  to 
the  tastes  of  women  with  standards  such  as  they  must  have  been 
accustomed  to  before  their  retirement.  No  doubt  the  explanation 
lies  in  the  facts  that  the  value  of  savings  and  pensions  has  been 
declining  and  that  the  care  of  many  dependents  has  been  both 
physically  and  financially  depleting. 

Living  Arrangements 

Turning  from  the  descriptions  of  the  places  of  residence  of  these 
women,  let  us  see  just  what  were  the  living  arrangements  of  the 
retired  teachers.  Table  17.  Of  the  115  studied,  a  little  over  two- 
fifths  were  living  in  houses,  a  somewhat  smaller  proportion  in 
apartments,  one  out  of  six  was  living  alone  in  a  single  room,  while 
only  two  had  found  their  way  to  old  ladies'  homes.  Of  the  50 
teachers  living  in  houses,  nine-tenths  were  parts  of  family  groups 
while  of  those  occupying  apartments,  three-fourths  enjoyed  family 
life.  But  in  both  cases  over  half  of  this  number  lived  with  only 
one  other  relative. 

Dependents 

If  anyone  doubts  that  women  should  have  equal  wages  with 
men,  let  him  examine  the  experiences  of  the  noble  women  who  have 
taught  our  children.  Many  of  their  lives  have  been  one  continual 
self-sacrifice  to  those  who  have  been  dependent  upon  them.  The 
wonder  is  that  they  did  "carry  on"  instead  of  giving  up  or  growing 


70 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


bitter  under  their  loads.  It  has  been  the  lot  of  the  teacher  to 
educate  brothers  and  sisters  only  to  see  them  marry  and  go  off 
happy  with  their  own  families  while  she,  the  older  sister,  was  left 
to  continue  the  home  for  the  mother  and  father  and  to  keep  it 
open  for  the  widowed  sisters,  orphaned  nieces  and  nephews,  sick 
brothers,  uncles,  and  aunts.  Hers  is  hardly  a  problem  of  mere  self- 


TABLE  17.    LIVING    ARRANGEMENTS    OF    RETIRED     BOSTON 
WOMEN  TEACHERS 


LIVING  ARRANGEMENTS 

Teachers 

Number 

Per  Cent 

Total,    

115 
50 
5 
45 
392 
6 
44 
11 
33 
183 
154 
185 
2 
1 

100. 
43.5 

38.3 

15.7 
1.7 

.8 

Living  in  houses; 

Keeping  house  for  themselves, 
Parts  of  family  groups,       .... 
With  relatives,1 

With  friends,1  

Living  in  apartments:      

Keeping  house  for  themselves, 
Parts  of  family  groups,       .... 
With  relatives,     

With  friends, 

Living  alone  in  single  rooms: 
Living  in  institutions:      

Unknown:  

iThree  of  those  found  living  with  relatives  and  one  living  with  friends  were  spending  their 
old  age  in  rural  communities.  All  of  the  other  teachers  studied  preferred  to  continue  urban 
life. 

2Twenty-two  of  the  39  live  with  only  one  relative. 

SFourteen  of  the  18  live  with  only  one  relative  (usually  a  sister  or  daughter). 

4Six  of  the  15  live  with  only  one  other  person. 

6Two  of  the  18  live  in  single  rooms  in  hotels. 

support.  Of  the  115,  twenty  were  caring  for  dependents  when  they 
were  visited,  43  had  been  helping  relatives  since  they  had  retired 
but  previous  to  the  visit,  and  fifty  had  carried  heavy  family  respon- 
sibilities while  they  were  teaching.  Of  this  number,  eight  cared 
for  three  persons  at  a  time,  three  cared  for  four  at  once,  and  one 
cared  for  five  persons  at  the  same  time.  Table  18.  Over  a  fourth, 
28.3  per  cent,  of  the  teachers  never  had  cared  for  dependents. 

As  for  the  relationship  of  the  dependents  cared  for  by  these 
women,  we  find  that  there  were  84  female  dependents  as  against 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 


71 


40  males.  Table  19.  Mothers,  sisters,  and  nieces  were  the  depen- 
dent ones  in  the  majority  of  cases  though  there  were  instances  of 
cousins,  daughters,  sisters-in-law,  and  step-daughters.  Of  the 
male  dependents,  brothers  and  nephews,  with  frequencies  in  the 
order  stated,  were  found.  Three  kinds  of  partial  support  were  re- 
corded :  the  teacher  had  either  opened  her  home  to  the  dependents, 
had  given  money  towards  their  support,  or  had  paid  for  school- 
ing. There  were  ten  instances  of  girls  and  eight  of  boys  who  re- 
ceived this  latter  form  of  assistance. 

The  following  examples  stood  out  among  the  teachers  who 
showed  exceptional  devotion  to  others.  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  most  of  these  instances  were  discovered  almost  by  accident 
for  many  of  those  who  had  done  most  were  very  reluctant  to  tell 
the  visitor  of  their  sacrifices.  When  there  were  no  savings  to  be 
recorded,  the  investigator  usually  found  that  all  resources  had 
been  drained  in  caring  for  dependents. 

One  woman  had  assumed  entire  care  of  her  mother  and  invalid 
sister  for  years  until  their  death.  Since  that  time  she  had  had  one 
or  two  friends  whom  she  had  looked  after,  either  keeping  them  in 
her  home  or  paying  their  expenses  in  the  country. 


TABLE  18.  DEPENDENTS  CARED  FOR  BY  RETIRED  BOSTON 
WOMEN  TEACHERS 


NUMBER  OF  DEPENDENTS 

Teachers  having  Dependents: 

After  Retirement 

While 
Teaching 

When 
Visited 

Prior 
to  Visit 

Total  Number  of 
Teachers  with 
Dependents,     

20 
16 
3 

1 

43 

28 
9 
5 
1 

50 
32 
13 
2 
2 
1 

One,     
Two, 

Three,        

Four, 

Five,    

No  Dependents,     
Unknown,    

95 

61 
11 

54 
11 

Total  Teachers, 


115 


115 


115 


72 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 


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IData  from  the 

OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  73 

Another  woman  did  not  begin  teaching  until  some  years  after 
her  marriage  which  occurred  when  she  was  nineteen.    After  a  long, 
expensive  illness,  her  husband  died  of  consumption  leaving  her 
burdened  with  the  care  of  five  children.    The  generous  resources 
of  her  mother,  used  in  her  assistance,  were  exhausted  just  prior 
to  the  mother's  death.    The  young  widow  hired  a  maid  to  look 
after  her  children  and  bravely  set  forth  to  earn  their  support  by 
teaching  sewing.     She  finally  overcame  the  obstacles  that  were 
put  in  her  way  and  secured  a  position.    About  that  time  her 
children  began  to  show  signs  of  delicate  health.    Out  of  necessity 
she  kept  on  teaching  and  one  by  one  the  children  sickened  and 
died.    Years  passed,  one  son  was  yet  living  and  the  woman  had 
retired  on  a  meagre  pension.    The  boy  had  worked  his  way  into 
a  good  position  and  soon  would  have  been  able  to  give  his  mother 
a  comfortable  home.     Then  he  was  stricken  with  influenza  and 
died.     Left  thus  alone,  her  heart  broken  and  all  vision  of  future 
happiness  destroyed,  she  struggled  on — one  of  life's  tragedies — 
with  just  enough  money  with  which  to  eke  out  an  existence. 

Mrs.  A's  life  is  still  another  typifying  the  real  struggles  of  these 
women.    When  21  she  was  left  a  widow  with  a  baby  one  month  old. 
She  went  to  live  with  her  mother  whose  resources  were  small.    As 
she  had  previously  graduated  from  Normal  school,  she  started 
teaching.     For  many  years  she  helped  support  her  mother  and 
daughter.    While  a  successful  teacher  she  was  able  to  give  her 
daughter  a  good  education.    The  girl,  however,  soon  married.    In 
the  meantime,  Mrs.  A  had  been  put  in  charge  of  a  school  and  was 
teaching  other  teachers  in  night  classes,  and  was  quite  prominent 
hi  educational  activities.     With  the  marriage  of  her  daughter 
and  death  of  her  mother,  her  family  responsibilities  should  cer- 
tainly have  ceased,  but  not  so.     A  sick  aunt  came  to  make  her 
home  with  her.    The  woman  had  experienced  no  anxiety  for  her 
own  future  because  after  her  retirement  she  had  expected  to  be 
very  happy  in  her  daughter's  home.    After  unusual  success  as  a 
teacher,  she  retired  at  the  age  of  seventy  and  continued  to  care 
for  the  sick  aunt  until  the  latter's  death.     Soon  after  that  the 
daughter  came  for  a  visit  and  suddenly  died. 

Somehow  the  woman  had  managed  to  put  $100  in  the  bank  for 
an  emergency.    She  had  no  other  savings  and  no  inheritance.    Her 


74  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

sole  income  was  the  $45  a  month  which  she  received  as  a  pension. 
She  could  not  afford  to  board  with  her  landlady  but  had  the  privi- 
lege of  cooking  in  the  kitchen.  "An  old  lady/'  she  said,  "needs 
very  little  to  eat."  But  she  was  worried  about  what  might  happen 
if  she  should  Jbe  ill.  Her  health  was  broken  and  all  her  hopes 
shattered,  yet  as  a  means  of  supplementing  her  tiny  allowance 
and  of  occupying  her  still  active  mind,  she  has  undertaken  to 
teach  eight  hours  a  week  at  fifty  cents  per  hour,  in  an  industrial 
school. 

Many  cases  of  senility  were  reflected  in  personal  untidiness 
and  wandering  minds.  We  would  not  paint  the  picture  too  dark 
but  these  things  stand  out  in  the  visitors'  memories. 

Extent  of  Financial  Independence 

Almost  three-fourths  of  the  teachers  gave  of  their  substance  in 
caring  for  others,  yet  only  a  quarter  of  the  number  were  in  turn 
being  cared  for  by  relatives,  friends,  or  charity.1  In  many  in- 
stances those  helping  the  teachers  were  not  the  ones  who  had  been 
helped  by  them  in  the  past.  Of  this  seventy-five  per  cent  who 
were  living  independently  of  help,  over  two-fifths  were  living  en- 
tirely on  their  own  resources  and  over  one-half  were  sharing  ex- 
penses with  relatives, — usually  sisters, — or  with  friends. 

These  old-age  associations  revealed  many  lasting  friendships, 
benefits  returned,  and  beautiful  family  devotion,  yet  there  were 
also  instances  of  unappreciated  help,  betrayed  confidences,  bitter- 
ness, and  dispositions  too  quarrelsome  to  be  happy  with  others. 
Let  one  illustration  of  each  suffice. 

Perhaps  the  best  evidence  of  enduring  friendship  is  the  case  of 
Miss  H.  When  yet  a  girl  and  teaching,  she  lived  with  two  girl 
cousins  who  also  worked.  The  three  decided  to  pool  their  earn- 
ings and  to  use  then-  savings  as  they  needed  them,  thus  providing 
for  the  one  who  should  live  longest.  There  was  a  Mrs.  W  who  was 
always  mothering  the  girls  and  of  whom  they  were  very  fond.  The 
cousins  decided  that  the  last  one  of  them  living  should  will  what- 
ever remained  of  their  fund  to  the  two  sons  of  this  Mrs.  W.  Two 

iTeachers  supplementing  their  incomes  by  work,  inheritance,  or  similar  means  were  con- 
sidered financially  independent.  In  some  cases  they  were  barely  getting  along  but  since  they 
were  accepting  no  help  they  were  considered  as  self-supporting.  Those  sharing  expenses  with 
others,  of  course,  were  living  more  cheaply  than  they  could  have  if  alone.  It  was  only  be- 
cause of  such  an  arrangement  that  some  were  able  to  be  independent. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  75 

of  the  cousins  died  early  in  life  leaving  a  fair  amount  of  savings  for 
the  use  of  Miss  H  who  continued  teaching  and  made  her  home 
with  Mrs.  W.  The  years  passed  and  at  the  woman's  death  Miss  H 
went  to  live  with  one  of  the  sons  who  opened  his  home  to  her. 
Besides  her  pension  and  the  remainder  of  this  pooled  fund,  she 
had  the  income  from  some  mortgages  and  rents  left  her  by  Mrs.  W. 
For  years  she  paid  from  $10  to  $15  a  week  to  Mr.  W's  family  for 
her  expenses.  When  found  by  the  visitor,  she  was  90  years  old,  a 
beautiful  little  lady  so  frail  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  breezes  would 
waft  her  away.  She  was  in  a  lovely  sunny  room  with  all  the  little 
things  that  she  treasured.  Too  feeble  to  walk,  she  spends  the 
hours  in  an  invalid's  chair  and  lives  in  the  snatches  of  memory 
which  are  left  to  her.  She  is  ever  grateful  for  the  kindness  of  these 
true  friends.  Though  unknown  to  her,  the  pooled  fund  was 
exhausted  sometime  ago  and  this  son  of  her  old  friend  is 
supplementing  her  tiny  pension  in  a  way  to  fulfill  all  of  her 


A  very  pleasing  case  of  benefits  returned  was  that  of  a  brother 
who  was  helped  through  school  and  into  business  by  his  sister,  a 
teacher.  When  the  father  died  and  left  a  very  substantial  sum  to 
be  divided  between  the  two  children,  the  brother  refused  to  take 
his  share  saying  it  would  only  pay  in  a  small  way  for  the  timely 
assistance  that  the  sister  had  given  him  so  gladly. 

We  described  the  homes  of  these  women  and  have  shown  some 
of  the  causes  of  their  poverty;  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  con- 
dition of  the  women  themselves.  Some  were  wonderfully  active 
and  well-preserved  in  mind  and  body,  but  there  were  those  who 
were  less  fortunate.  One  woman  was  so  crippled  that  she  could 
scarcely  hobble  to  the  door  to  admit  the  visitor;  another  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  deplorable  circumstances  was  slowly  dying  of 
cancer;  one  was  so  deaf  that  the  only  means  of  communicating 
with  her  was  by  writing.  Another  was  palsied  and  almost 
blind. 

One  brave  woman  not  yet  bowed  down  by  adversity,  was  visited 
in  her  one  little  room  which  still  boasted  a  beautifully  embroidered 
counterpane,  a  vestige  of  former  prosperity.  She  was  gowned  in  a 
black  silk  dress  trimmed  with  jet  spangles  which  plainly  betrayed 
many  makings  over.  She  told  us  that  she  had  not  had  a  new  gar- 


76  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

ment  in  seven  years  and  that  she  did  not  know  how  she  could  get 
along  if  it  were  not  that  she  had  a  knack  at  sewing  so  that  she 
could  fashion  and  refashion  the  clothing  worn  before  her  retire- 
ment. 

Of  all  those  who  have  given  much  to  their  families,  there  is  one 
particularly  beautiful  example  of  devotion  to  family  life  and  ties. 
This  woman  might  almost  have  been  conducting  an  old  people's 
home.  When  she  was  young  an  aunt  assisted  her  in  getting  an 
education.  At  the  time  of  this  investigation,  the  aunt  was  nearing 
eighty  and  had  little  but  her  pension  so  that  the  main  burden  of 
supporting  the  home,  fell,  in  turn,  upon  the  teacher.  When  rela- 
tives of  the  aunt's  generation  became  ill  or  unable  to  take  care  of 
themselves  they  drifted  back  to  the  old  home.  For  eighteen  years, 
two  old  ladies  besides  the  aunt  were  partially  supported.  During 
one  year  a  child  was  added  to  the  household.  For  ten  years  an 
aged  man  was  given  a  home  to  which  he  contributed  little  except 
his  services  in  the  care  of  the  garden.  Moreover,  two  other  men 
and  a  fourth  woman,  unable  to  care  for  themselves,  found  shelter 
under  this  generous  roof.  In  addition  to  all  this  the  woman  said, 
"We  have  had  the  usual  cases  where  Aunt  and  I  have  had  to  help 
someone  who  had  claims  on  us  'over  the  stile/  It  either  meant  a 
new  coat,  a  whole  outfit  for  school,  or  a  scholarship  to  business 
college." 

Among  the  many  instances  of  lack  of  appreciation  of  benefits 
given  at  so  great  a  cost  to  the  struggling  teacher,  there  stands  out 
the  case  of  the  woman  who,  having  sent  four  promising  young 
people  through  college,  was  in  need  and  yet  received  absolutely 
no  help  in  return. 

Betrayed  confidences  were  most  common  where  sums  of  money 
generously  loaned, — often  without  interest, — were  never  paid 
back.  There  were  some,  though  a  surprisingly  small  number,  who 
were  found  to  be  embittered;  notably  among  these  was  the  woman 
who,  having  lost  all  faith  in  and  love  for  humanity,  expressed  the 
desire  that  the  entire  white  race  might  be  "wiped  out."  And 
of  course,  unhappily,  there  were  those  unable  to  get  along  peace- 
ably with  others.  A  pitiful  and  at  the  same  time  amusing  instance 
of  this  was  the  case  of  two  sisters  who  lived  each  in  her  own  apart- 
ment, the  one  above  the  other. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  77 

Old  or  Young  Companions 

The  question  as  to  whether  these  women  desire  associates  of 
their  own  age  or  prefer  younger  companions  can  only  be  left  open, 
for  our  data  is  insufficient  to  reach  any  conclusion.  Some  of  these 
ex-teachers  were  found  content  to  live  alone  or  in  institutions  for 
the  old,  away  from  all  young  life.  Others  were  constantly  with 
young  people,  educating  them,  entertaining  them,  and  living  with 
them.  The  visitor  will  not  soon  forget  that  splendid  woman  who 
made  her  a  guest  at  one  of  the  Symphony  Concerts,  saying  that 
these  concerts  were  her  one  extravagance  and  that  she  always 
bought  two  season  tickets  in  order  that  she  might  ask  young 
people,  in  whom  she  was  interested,  to  enjoy  them  with  her. 
Another  instance  of  this  continued  interest  in  youth  is  that  of  the 
woman  who  loved  to  conduct  European  tours  for  parties  of  her 
young  girl  friends. 

General  Social  Interests 

If  any  group  of  women  should  be  interested  in  outside  activities 
it  is  the  teachers,  for  their  careers  have  linked  them  with  the  life 
of  the  community.  Let  us  see,  then,  if  they  maintain  this  interest 
after  retirement.  Of  the  115  visited,  70  seemed  to  have  had  no 
outside  interests,  while  45  were  active  in  the  social  life  of  their  com- 
munities. At  first  glance  this  seems  to  show  that  a  very  small  num- 
ber continued  then*  social  interests  in  old  age.  However,  an  analy- 
sis of  the  seventy  somewhat  explains  the  situation,  for  forty-two 
of  this  number  were  too  feeble  to  do  anything;  nine  were  busy 
with  other  work  such  as  a  full-time  government  position,  nursing 
the  sick,  or  running  a  lodging  house;  and  only  nineteen  actually 
having  the  time  and  strength  for  it  were  not  actively  interested  in 
things  aside  from  their  homes. 

Of  the  45  engaged  in  outside  enterprises,  35  were  interested  in 
one  or  more  of  the  following:  clubs,  churches,  concerts,  movies, 
lectures,  and  neighborhood  schools.  The  remaining  11  (less  than 
one-tenth  of  the  whole)  made  club  work  their  chief  interest  in  life. 
One  retired  teacher  was  described  by  a  friend  as  "belonging  to 
about  every  club  in  the  city."  This  woman  is  interested  in  the 
various  settlement  houses  and  particularly  in  negroes  as  her 
mother  and  father  devoted  the  best  part  of  their  lives  to  the 


78  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

Abolitionist  cause.  Another  woman  finds  time  for  housekeeping, 
gardening,  sewing  for  her  daughter  and  an  orphans'  home  in 
Georgia,  besides  calling  on  shut-ins  and  helping  in  church  work. 
Several  of  the  teachers  are  members  of  the  Women's  City  Club 
and  of  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union.  One 
sweet  little  woman  told  the  visitor,  "If  necessary  skimp  a  bit 
yourself  but  keep  interested  in  others  and  help  them."  At  the 
time  she  was  visited  she  was  engaged  in  helping  with  the  Assyrian 
relief  work;  was  treasurer  of  a  sewing  circle  in  the  church;  was 
helping  to  educate  young  people  in  China,  Assyria,  and  Alabama; 
was  a  member  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  and  W.  E.  I.  U.,  Speech  Readers' 
Guild,  Red  Cross,  Boston  Teachers'  School  of  Science;  and  was 
teaching  in  a  Chinese  Sunday  school.  Other  women,  lovers  of 
the  out-of-doors,  were  active  members  of  the  Appalachian,  and 
Field  and  Forest  Clubs.  All  of  the  investigators  were  struck  by 
the  generosity  of  these  women.  In  several  instances  the  field 
workers  were  mistaken  for  those  soliciting  for  the  Church  or 
Red  Cross  or  some  other  organization,  and  in  practically  every 
case,  no  matter  how  needy  the  teacher,  she  had  a  bit  of  money 
all  ready  to  give  for  this  or  that  cause. 

Part-Time  Work 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  income  of  the  large  majority  of  re- 
tired teachers  is  pitifully  small — only  one-fifth  of  the  115  had  an 
income  of  more  than  $700 — and  that  one-third  (31.3  per  cent)  of 
the  115  were  supplementing  their  pensions  by  whatever  work  they 
could  find  to  do.  Let  us  see  just  what  ingenious  plans  these  edu- 
cated women  tried  and  found  successful.  Of  the  115  teachers, 
less  than  a  fourth  did  no  work,  nearly  a  half  were  doing  unpaid 
work,  and  almost  a  third  were  receiving  remuneration  for  their 
work.  Table  20.  Of  those  not  working,  15  were  physically  incapable 
of  it  and  9  were  strong  enough  but  either  were  boarding  or  were 
living  in  homes  sufficiently  well  off  not  to  require  their  services. 
Of  the  55  engaged  in  unpaid  work,  42  were  busy  with  housework, 
7  did  light  housekeeping,  and  6  filled  their  time  with  club  work  of 
an  important  character.  It  is  the  third  who  were  doing  paid  work 
that  we  wish  particularly  to  consider  here.  The  largest  number, 
nine,  were  engaged  in  making  fancy  work,  which  term  includes 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  79 

everything  from  crocheting  and  embroidering,  to  the  finest  sewing. 
Though  one  might  suppose  that  a  large  number  of  women,  hard 
pressed  for  money  with  which  to  buy  the  necessities  of  life,  would 
turn  naturally  to  housework  as  the  easiest  expedient,  only  6  of 
the  115  were  found  to  be  thus  engaged.  To  this  number  might  be 
added,  however,  the  four  who  kept  roomers.  One  of  these  four 
also  sold  embroidery  of  her  own  making  besides  taking  advantage 
of  a  novel  plan  for  serving  hot  lunches  to  teachers. 

Some  of  these  women  seemed  loath  to  give  up  their  teaching. 
One  gave  lessons  to  abnormal  children  in  their  own  homes,  one 
did  substituting  whenever  she  was  needed,  and  five  were  tutoring. 
Another  woman,  fond  of  reading  and  still  blessed  with  good  eye- 
sight, spent  many  pleasant  and  profitable  hours  reading  to  both 
those  who  were  sick  and  those  who  were  old.  Charity  organiza- 
tions offered  employment  to  two  others.  This  field  of  endeavor 
might  well  attract  the  teacher,  for  her  work  has  given  her  an  in- 
valuable approach  to  all  types  and  classes  of  people  and  a  deep  in- 
sight into  their  characters, — both  attributes  being  requisites  of 
successful  social  workers.  Two  women,  of  artistic  temperament, 
had  found  painting  place-cards,  Christmas  greetings,  and  the  like,  a 
delightful  way  of  increasing  their  incomes.  Still  another  ex- 
teacher  took  pleasure  in  doing  library  assistant  work.  This  is 
work  that  almost  any  teacher  should  be  prepared  to  do. 

Preserve  making  was  the  method  of  earning  money  selected  by 
one  teacher.  For  several  years  she  had  made  a  regular  business 
of  it,  preparing  a  great  variety,  using  standard  glasses  and  uni- 
form labels.  The  rows  upon  rows  of  neat  little  jars  looked  tempt- 
ing, to  say  the  least,  and  the  appearance  of  the  woman,  neat  and 
attractive  in  her  freshly  starched  white  dress  and  apron,  were  all 
that  were  needed  to  convince  one  that  her  confections  might  well 
have  a  ready  sale. 

Of  those  women  who  liked  to  and  were  able  to  be  busy  outside 
of  their  homes,  there  were  two  holding  government  positions. 
One  of  these,  as  she  so  delightfully  described  it,  had  "got  the  bee" 
for  a  job  during  the  war  when  all  were  being  urged  to  offer  them- 
selves for  service.  She  found  her  temporary  position  so  pleasant 
and  enjoyed  earning  money  again  so  much  that  she  determined 
to  take  the  Civil  Service  Examination  for  a  permanent  place. 


80 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 


TABLE      20.      OCCUPATIONS1    OF    RETIRED    BOSTON    WOMEN 

TEACHERS 


OCCUPATIONS 

Te 

ichers 

Number 

Per  Cent 

Total,      

115 

100 

Paid  Work: 

36 

31  3 

Teaching  abnormal  children,  . 
Keeping  house, 

1 
6 

Keeping  roomers,     

42 

Tutoring,       .                 .                 . 

5 

Making  fancy-work, 

93 

Teaching  as  a  substitute,   .... 
Holding  Civil  Service  positions,    . 
Reading  to  others,         .     .     . 
Doing  work  for  charitable  organizations, 
Making  preserves, 

1 
24 
1 
2 
1 

Painting  and  drawing,  
Gardening  and  f  arming,     .... 
Assisting  in  library, 

2 
1 
1 

Unpaid  Work:       

55 

47.8 

Keeping  house, 

42 

Doing  light  housekeeping, 
Doing  club  work,     

7 
6 

Not  Working:  

24 

20.8 

Capable  of  work, 

9 

Boarding,  
In  homes  having  servants,   . 
Incapable  of  work,  

2 
7 
15 

iSome  interesting  occupations  were  found  among  women  other  than  the  115  from  whom 
schedules  were  secured.  Such  cases  are  those  of  a  woman  who  had  been  serving  as  clerk  in 
a  bank  for  the  last  three  and  a  half  years,  one  who  cared  for  children  and  elderly  people,  one 
who  was  a  successful  writer  of  children's  stories,  one  who  translated  the  Italian  letters  of  a 
large  exporting  concern  in  Boston,  and  one  who  gardened  and  kept  bees. 

2One  of  the  4  also  served  lunches  to  teachers. 

3One  of  the  8  did  fine  sewing  and  another  gave  painting  lessons  besides  selling  her  embroid- 
eries. 

4One  of  these  2  besides  being  clerk  in  the  U.  S.  Treasury  Department  at  Washington,  D.  C. 
in  order  to  supplement  her  savings,  had  been  companion  to  a  woman  and  taught  English 
in  a  foreign  legation  at  Washington. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  81 

This  she  did,  and  when  visited  by  the  investigator  was  most 
happy  in  her  work  as  filing  clerk.  The  substantial  little  sum  that 
came  so  regularly  added  to  her  sense  of  financial  security.  The 
other  teacher,  engaged  in  a  like  occupation  was  a  civil  service  em- 
ployee of  the  Treasury  Department  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Previ- 
ous to  occupying  herself  with  this  work,  she  augmented  her  in- 
come by  being  companion  to  a  lady  in  Washington  and  also  by 
teaching  English  in  one  of  the  foreign  legations. 

Though  sufficient  information  for  tabulation  purposes  was 
obtained  from  only  115  retired  teachers,  others  gave  delightful 
descriptions  of  the  ways  they  had  found  of  supplementing  their 
savings.  Of  these,  one  had  been  a  clerk  in  a  bank  for  the  last 
one  and  one-half  years,  while  another  was  a  successful  writer  of 
children's  stories — surely  a  delightful  occupation  for  one  who  loves 
children  and  enjoys  pleasing  them.  Is  it  not  peculiar  that  more 
teachers  have  not  availed  themselves  of  such  work  as  this?  Mem- 
bers of  the  teaching  profession  should  rank  high  in  literary  ability. 
Still  another  of  these  women  was  being  most  successful  in  her 
gardening  and  bee-keeping.  A  fourth  cared  for  children  and  older 
people  while  still  another  translated  the  Italian  letters  of  a  large 
Boston  exporting  concern.  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  variety  in 
part-time  occupations  is  not  lacking. 

We  have  considered  the  various  ways  of  supplementing  incomes 
that  have  been  successfully  tried  by  retired  teachers.  Let  us 
turn  now  for  a  survey  of  some  further  ideas  that  teachers  still 
active  hoped  to  make  profitable  after  their  retirement.  One  of 
these  women  wrote  that  she  had  a  friend  living  in  Colorado  who 
owned  a  house  and  a  five-acre  ranch.  This  friend  was  a  teacher 
and  had  to  support  her  family.  The  Boston  teacher  planned  to  go 
West,  help  farm  this  little  ranch,  and  share  expenses  with  the 
friend. 

Another  woman — remembered  with  great  pleasure  by  the  visi- 
tor— planned  to  retire  in  California.  She  had  no  relatives  left 
and  hence  she  wanted  to  be  near  the  married  god-daughter  to 
whom  she  was  very  devoted.  She  expected  to  have  a  little  bunga- 
low apartment  all  her  own  and,  though  handicapped  by  deafness, 
she  did  not  anticipate  being  idle,  for,  as  she  so  pleasingly  said, 
"I  adore  children  and  always  want  to  have  them  about  me.  Have 


82  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

you  ever  heard  of  one  being  professional  grandmother?  Well, 
that  is  what  I  am  going  to  be.  There  are  ever  so  many  mothers 
who  desire  to  go  out  now  and  then  and  who  have  a  hard  time 
finding  responsible  people  with  whom  to  leave  their  little  ones.  I 
hope  to  help  such  mothers  and  they  in  turn  will  be  helping  me. 
And  then  if  I  tire  of  that,  or  even  in  between  times,  I  may  play 
doctor  to  the  wardrobes  of  busy  professional  women,  sewing  on 
buttons,  darning  stockings,  and  mending  the  rips.  I  should  get 
plenty  to  keep  me  busy  for  I  know  how  hard  it  has  been  for  me  to 
keep  my  clothes  in  repair  while  I  have  been  teaching  and  I  know 
that  I  am  not  the  only  working  woman  who  has  found  it  so.  Then 
I  still  have  a  third  job  that  I  may  revert  to,  that  is,  keeping  books 
for  the  husband  of  my  god-daughter.  I  can  see  no  reason  why 
women  should  have  trouble  in  supplementing  their  incomes  after 
retirement  if  they  are  the  least  bit  adaptable  and  ingenious." 

Another  gifted  and  active  woman  was  preparing  for  the  time 
when  approaching  deafness  might  cut  short  her  teaching  career. 
She  was  attending  an  evening  law  school  in  order  to  prepare  her- 
self to  earn  her  own  and  her  mother's  support  as  a  lawyer. 

A  letter  from  one  of  the  teachers  furnished  a  forceful  and  con- 
vincing statement  of  the  desirability  of  having  an  avocation  on 
which  a  teacher  may  rely  for  support  or  diversion  when  deprived 
of  the  interests  which  have  absorbed  her  during  the  period  of  her 
active  professional  life.  We  can  do  no  better  than  to  quote 
passages  from  this  letter. 

"Din  it  into  the  head  of  every  teacher  to  have  an  avocation  as 
well  as  a  vocation.  Urge  teachers  to  develop  an  interest  in  some 
outside  work  which  may  grow  into  something  remunerative  later 
on.  'But,  I  have  no  time/  says  the  teacher,  'or  strength.'  Yes 
you  have!  Don't  do  so  much  church  work,  or  social  work,  or 
don't  entertain  so  much,  or  else  cut  out  some  of  your  concerts  and 
study  to  be  well-equipped  along  some  secondary  line.  Are  you 
fond  of  teaching  drawing?  Then  take  up  draughting  with  a  cor- 
respondence school.  You'll  enjoy  it  and  every  teacher  should 
study  some,  you  know.  One  teacher,  a  friend  of  mine,  took  up 
silversmithing  for  her  play  and  when  an  accident  kept  her  on 
crutches  for  over  a  year  it  was  her  salvation  financially,  and  could 
be  again.  My  avocation  is  my  garden.  In  Maine  is  a  small,  run- 


OLD-AGE    SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  83 

down  farm,  cheaply  purchased.  There  I  have  my  own  wood,  and 
no  water  rates  to  pay.  I  keep  a  few  hens  and  can  raise  $100  worth 
of  vegetables  yearly.  Besides  this  I  have  nearly  all  the  fruit  that 
the  five  of  us  (she  is  supporting  four  old  people)  can  use,  for  we 
have  apples,  peaches,  pears,  grapes,  quinces,  currants,  and  goose- 
berries. All  of  this  considerably  lightens  my  financial  burden. 
Here  with  my  pension  and  the  bit  more  that  is  left  after  'my 
family'  is  gone — well  I  don't  need  to  worry  about  the  future." 

The  plans  just  given  have  been  tried  and  found  workable. 
Those  who  have  been  so  generous  in  telling  us  of  their  avocations 
have  done  it  in  the  hope  that  some  other  women  might  be  helped 
thereby.  Let  us  suggest  that  it  is  not  only  those  in  need  of  money 
who  should  have  avocations  but  also  those  without  tasks  to  keep 
them  busy  and  happy.  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  will 
illustrate  the  point;  "I  realize  that  the  time  of  my  retirement  is 
drawing  near  and  in  the  still  small  watches  of  the  night  when 
slumber  sometimes  refuses  to  be  wooed  I  often  wonder  what  the 
future  has  to  offer  to  one  deprived  of  the  regular  occupation  of  a 
lifetime  and  with  no  home  ties  demanding  service.  The  outlook 
seems  at  times  forlorn  and  sad.  If,  to  quote  from  your  circular, 
your  workers  can  discover  and  offer  'ways  of  insuring  an  old  age 
period  of  contentment  or  even  of  great  happiness'  to  those  whose 
need  is  such  as  mine,  you  will  have  become  indeed  benefactors  to  a 
large  body  of  public  servants,  who  because  of  their  vocation  have 
been  deprived  of  family  ties  and  in  their  last  years  may  have  to 
depend  upon  strangers  for  care  and  society." 

General  Valuation  of  Old- Age  Life  of  Teachers 

And  now  we  come  to  the  end.  What  is  the  general  valuation 
of  the  old-age  life  of  the  teacher?  Is  this  period  of  life  worth  living 
for  and  looking  forward  to? 

Of  the  115,  almost  three-fourths  appeared  to  be  happy  while 
about  a  quarter  of  the  number  were  discontented,  bitter,  or  sad. 
Most  of  those  who  were  working  were  much  happier  than  if  they 
had  been  idle.  Those  who  had  shouldered  the  most  burdens  and 
cared  for  dependents  were  almost  invariably  the  sweetest  and  most 
lovable  in  their  old  age.  Some  in  their  poverty  and  sickness  had 
been  embittered  but  there  were  many  others  bearing  their  adver- 


84  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

sity  with  smiles.  One  woman  particularly  is  to  be  thought  of  in 
this  connection.  With  mind  bright  and  active  she  was  unable  to 
leave  an  invalid's  chair.  With  her  own  savings  used  up  in  the 
care  of  those  once  dependent  upon  her,  she  had  lived  to  see  the 
day  when  she  was  absolutely  dependent  upon  her  younger  sister 
who  cared  for  her,  tried  to  do  the  housework,  and  taught  at  the 
same  time.  When  the  visitor  spoke  of  her  brave  little  smile,  the 
woman  hastened  to  say,  "Why,  my  sister  has  almost  more  than 
she  can  bear  already,  why  should  I  add  to  her  burden  by  being 
sour  and  disagreeable  or  even  sad?"  Then  there  are  those  who 
are  in  that  blissful  stage  of  senility  where  all  seems  right  and 
happy  to  them.  These  are  indeed  to  be  envied  above  those  who 
can  see  but  the  dreary  side  of  things.  And  lastly,  there  are  those 
upon  whom  fortune  has  smiled,  those  who  have  loved  ones  about 
them,  homes  of  comfort,  and  hopes  realized — those  who  have  "a 
wee  home  where  they  may  have  sunshine  and  sunset,  an  apple 
tree,  a  piazza,  and  some  pleasant  neighbors." 


CHAPTER  V 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  BY  CO-OPERATING 
INVESTIGATORS 

INTRODUCTION 

The  experiences  of  a  group  of  trained  American  women  who  are 
seeking  means  of  adjustment  to  new  social  and  economic  condi- 
tions have  been  presented  in  the  previous  chapters  of  this  report. 
Many  terse  statements  gathered  in  personal  interviews  or  by 
correspondence  prove  that,  for  the  past  thirty  years,  the  more 
thoughtful  Massachusetts  teachers  have  been  feeling  their  way 
towards  a  solution  of  the  difficult  problems  which  confront  self- 
supporting  women  after  their  retirement  from  active  service. 
The  celibate  women  of  past  centuries  did  not  assume  this  individual 
responsibility  for  making  provision  for  the  period  of  old-age  in- 
capacity. Many  of  them  were  members  of  religious  communities 
whose  carefully  enforced  disciplines  prescribed  the  details  of  daily 
living.  A  peaceful  and  protected  old  age,  hallowed  by  the  religious 
associations  of  a  life  time,  usually  could  be  expected.  Other  un- 
married women  continued  to  share  the  activities  of  the  large 
family  groups  which  were  the  economic  units  of  society  before  the 
Industrial  Revolution.  Fathers  or  brothers  directed  the  produc- 
tive activities  of  the  household  and  represented  the  family  in  busi- 
ness transactions.  There  was  little  encouragement  for  feminine 
independence  or  initiative,  but  all  responsible  men  felt  the  obliga- 
tion to  give  care  and  protection  to  the  females  of  their  households. 
These  traditional  family  relations  are  weakened  or  destroyed 
when  there  have  been  many  years  of  separation  during  which  the 
women  have  nbt  rendered  services  tb  or  received  assistance  from 
their  male  relatives.  Individual  contracts  for  services  and  eco- 
nomic independence  inevitably  lead  to  personal  responsibility  for 
complete  self-support,  and  new  social  as  well  as  economic  adjust- 
ments are  necessary  when  a  woman  reaches  old  age  without  an 
established  position  in  a  family  group.  The  Massachusetts 


86  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

teachers  have  been  pioneers  in  the  search  for  means  of  dealing  with 
these  new  conditions,  so  that  a  pooling  of  their  experiences  results 
in  a  composite  picture  which  will  give  definite  content  to  the 
questions  which  we  are  presenting  for  discussion  by  co-operating 
groups. 

Contributions  to  the  final  report  dealing  with  conditions 
throughout  the  United  States  may  take  three  forms:1 

(1)  Information  showing  the  extent  to  which  the  experiences 
of  Massachusetts  teachers  are  typical  of  those  of  teachers 
in  other  parts  of  the  United  States. 

(2)  Data  similar  to  those  presented  in  this  report  dealing  with 
the   experiences  of  women  who  support  themselves  by 
vocations  other  than  teaching. 

(3)  Discussions  of  the  validity  of  the  tentative  generalizations 
suggested  in  this  report. 

EXTENT  OF  THE  NEED  FOR  OLD-AGE  PROVISION 

What  proportion  of  the  teachers  or  of  other  groups  of  gainfully 
employed  women  devote  their  lives  to  their  vocations  and  depend  on 
their  own  exertions  for  means  of  support  after  retirement  from  active 
services?  Ten  per  cent  of  the  Massachusetts  teachers  have  been 
in  the  schools  for  30  years  or  over.  No  doubt  this  proportion  at 
least  will  devote  their  lives  to  their  profession  and  must  gain 
from  it  the  larger  portion  of  their  support  after  retirement.  The 
need  is  equally  urgent  for  many  of  those  with  shorter  terms  of 
service.  A  recent  study  of  reasons  for  leaving  employment  in  the 
Massachusetts  schools  shows  that  the  proportion  (37.4  per  cent) 
who  expect  to  support  themselves  by  work  in  other  vocations  or 
by  teaching  in  other  states  is  slightly  greater  than  that  of  those 
who  leave  in  order  to  marry  (36.3  per  cent).2 

If  conditions  in  Massachusetts  are  typical  of  what  is  found  in 
other  portions  of  the  country,  there  will  be  a  certain  proportion  of 
the  teachers  and  of  other  self-supporting  women  who  must  depend 
chiefly  or  entirely  on  their  own  thrift  and  foresight  for  the  means  of 
insuring  a  care-free  old  age.  This  will  require  an  early  facing  of 
the  need  of  providing  maintenance  during  a  more  or  less  lengthy 

iMore  details  about  the  assistance  desired  are  given  on  pages  4-5. 
SReport  of  the  Special  Commission  on  Teachers'  Salaries,  12. 


OLD— AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  87 

period  of  old  age  incapacity.  But  the  development  of  such  con- 
sistent plans  of  saving  is  retarded  by  the  fact  that,  for  many  years 
there  is  a  strong  undercurrent  of  instinctive  emotions  which 
prompts  the  majority  of  these  women  to  expect  the  normal  family 
experiences  of  wives  and  mothers.  Comparatively  few  commit 
themselves  fully  and  promptly  to  the  celibate  life  of  social  service 
which  our  statistical  studies  lead  us  to  predict  for  about  half  of 
our  highly  trained  American  women,  and  even  these  are  susceptible 
to  influences  which  may  lead  to  an  early  abandonment  of  well- 
laid  plans. 

Would  it  be  reasonable  to  maintain  that,  during  the  period  of  gainful 
employment,  a  self-supporting  woman  should  make  the  portion  of 
her  old-age  provision  which  a  well  planned  life  would  assign  to  those 
years?  When  the  gainful  employment  is  abandoned  in  order  to 
become  a  wife  and  mother,  good  use  can  be  made  of  such  thrifty 
accumulations.  They  may  be  added  to  the  capital  which  is  assist- 
ing in  the  production  of  the  family  income,  they  may  make  pos- 
sible the  purchase  of  a  home,  or  they  may  be  retained  to  meet  a 
portion  of  the  needs  of  old  age.  When  a  woman  marries  after  some 
years  of  professional  activity,  it  usually  implies  that  her  husband 
will  have  a  shortened  period  in  which  to  accumulate  savings. 
The  wife  has  served  her  vocation  rather  than  the  family  during 
her  earlier  years,  and  some  reapportionment  of  economic  obliga- 
tions seems  just.  If  we  grant  the  validity  of  this  argument,  then 
the  questions  suggested  by  this  study  of  the  experiences  of  Massa- 
chusetts teachers  should  be  of  interest  to  all  self-supporting 
women. 

EXTENT  OF  THE  CARE  OF  DEPENDENTS 

Gainfully  employed  women  as  well  as  men  recognize  social 
claims  on  their  earnings  which  are  superior  to  those  of  pro- 
vision for  old-age  incapacity.  Chart  IV.  Money  required  for 
the  immediate  needs  of  members  of  the  family  or  household 
cannot  be  withheld  easily  in  order  to  make  secure  the  future  of  the 
individual.  The  results  of  the  present  study  and  of  a  recent  Eng- 
lish investigation  indicate  that  the  assistance  given  dependents 
fluctuates  with  the  earning  capacity  of  the  women.  During  earlier 
years  when  little  more  is  earned  than  what  is  required  for  bare  self- 


88  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

support,  but  few  women  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  others, 
but  the  increased  earning  capacity  of  maturity  enables  a  high  pro- 
portion of  the  gainfully  employed  women  to  assume  responsibility 
for  the  care  of  their  natural  dependents.  Assistance  was  given  to 
dependents  by  37  per  cent  of  the  active  Massachusetts  teachers 
when  they  were  20-29  years  old,  but  over  half  (52.2  per  cent)  of 
them  made  such  contributions  when  they  were  at  the  height  of 
their  earning  capacity  between  40  and  50  years  of  age.  Tables  24 
and  19.  The  English  study  dealt  with  women  whose  earnings  per- 
mitted less  assistance  to  dependents,  but  the  same  tendencies  are 
shown,  as  7.4  per  cent  of  the  wage-earners  of  18-20  assisted  depen- 
dents while  28  per  cent  of  those  36-40  years  old  cared  for  others.1 

The  findings  of  these  two  studies  suggest  interesting  questions 
about  the  probable  future  social  and  economic  relations  of  gain- 
fully employed  women.  Is  it  probable  that  the  unmarried  women 
of  the  family  will  accept  an  increasing  burden  of  responsibility  for 
the  care  of  its  dependents?  The  women  of  the  United  States  are 
rapidly  approaching  complete  equality  with  men  in  opportunities 
for  training  and  for  the  profitable  use  of  their  talents.  In  fact, 
females  avail  themselves  more  fully  of  public  educational  agencies 
than  males,  as  they  are  in  the  majority  in  the  public  secondary 
schools  and  are  approaching  equal  representation  in  the  state  uni- 
versities. They  are  still  somewhat  handicapped  in  finding  varied 
forms  of  gainful  employment,  and  rarely  are  compensated  for 
their  services  at  the  same  rates  as  men,  but  with  the  development 
of  greater  political  power,  these  disabilities  gradually  may  be  over- 
come. 

7s  it  just  and  desirable  that  equality  in  economic  responsibilities 
accompany  equality  in  opportunities  for  gainful  employment?  This 
would  mean  not  merely  that  women  would  become  responsible  for 
complete  self-support,  but  that  they  also  would  give  necessary 
care  to  natural  dependents.  The  probability  that  business  and 
professional  women  will  make  this  complete  social  return  for  the 
privileges  which  they  win  is  suggested  by  the  experiences  of  the 
Massachusetts  teachers.  If  we  assume  that  the  conditions  in  older 
Eastern  communities  are  typical  of  what  may  develop  elsewhere  in 

iRowntree,  B.  S.,  and  Stuart,  F.  D.,  The  Reponsibility  of  Women  Workers  for  Dependents, 
p.  19,  Table  IV. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS  89 

the  United  States,  then  we  may  expect  that  in  the  future  there 
will  be  many  families  in  which  the  unmarried  daughters  will  con- 
tinue to  live  in  the  homes  of  their  childhood  and  will  become  the 
chief  supports  of  their  aged  parents.  Their  brothers  or  sisters  will 
marry  and  devote  themselves  to  the  rearing  of  the  next  genera- 
tion. When  members  of  the  family  are  overtaken  by  misfortunes 
there  will  be  an  instinctive  tendency  to  turn  for  assistance  to  the 
remnant  of  the  older  family  group.  Thus  we  find  the  Massachu- 
setts teachers  giving  entire  or  partial  support  to  mothers,  sisters, 
nieces,  nephews,  brothers  and  fathers.  Table  19.  The  motherly 
impulse  to  care  for  others  was  so  strongly  developed  in  some  of 
these  noble  women  that  they  voluntarily  assumed  responsibility 
for  the  support  of  unrelated  aged  or  younger  persons. 

Granting  that  such  increased  social  responsibility  will  be  as- 
sumed by  women  who  from  choice  or  necessity  remain  unmarried, 
is  it  true  that  such  altruistic  services  may  assist  in  counteracting 
social  and  personal  evils  which  are  beginning  to  show  themselves  in 
modern  highly  developed  communities?  The  city  apartment,  unlike 
the  farm  of  pioneer  days,  does  not  lend  itself  readily  to  the  care  of 
dependents.  The  immediate  family  often  is  overcrowded,  and  old 
people  find  it  hard  to  live  in  such  close  proximity  to  growing  chil- 
dren. With  greater  pressure  of  economic  conditions,  a  man  needs 
all  his  resources  to  house,  nourish  and  educate  a  small  family. 
Even  in  the  United  States,  the  population  is  rapidly  outgrowing 
the  food  supply.  When  these  conditions  reach  their  full  develop- 
ment in  overcrowded  China,  the  female  infants  often  are  killed 
at  birth.  A  better  way  of  dealing  with  such  a  situation  might  be 
a  systematic  effort  to  give  them  every  advantage  of  nurture  and 
training  so  that  they  would  become  productive  members  of  society, 
capable  of  relieving  the  fathers  of  the  next  generation  of  the  care  of 
their  dependents  of  the  past  generation. 

Over  a  hundred  self-supporting  business  women  who  were  living 
outside  of  family  groups  were  visited  by  investigators  from  our 
Research  Department  in  1916.  Many  of  these  women  had  lived 
for  10  to  15  years  without  intimate  personal  ties  to  enlist  their 
interests.  The  danger,  under  such  circumstances,  of  developing  a 
self-centered,  or  even  somewhat  crotchety,  character  was  apparent 
to  all  those  who  assisted  with  the  interviews.  Quite  a  different 


90  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OP  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

impression  was  made  by  the  older  teachers,  many  of  whom  had 
shown  an  incredible  amount  of  unselfish  devotion  to  their  families 
or  others  in  need  of  assistance.  Again  and  again  the  visitors  in 
reporting  the  interviews  of  the  day,  expressed  their  warm  admira- 
tion for  the  well-poised,  lovable  characters  of  these  older  Boston 
teachers.  Their  genuine  affection  for  their  pupils  and  frequent  ex- 
pressions of  loyalty  to  their  profession  made  it  evident  that  they 
had  found  worthy  outlets  for  their  social  impulses.  The  increasing 
numbers  of  sensitive,  highly  trained,  American  women  who  must 
forfeit  the  personal  development  which  may  accompany  the 
gratification  of  their  instinctive  emotions,  may  find  other  ways  of 
expressing  their  altruistic  impulses  which  will  be  equally  produc- 
tive of  strong  and  lovable  personalities. 

Conceding  for  the  sake  of  our  argument  that  teachers  and  other 
professional  women  will  contribute  to  the  support  of  dependents, 
and  that  the  social  and  personal  advantages  of  such  assistance 
make  probable  its  increase  in  the  future,  how  will  these  altruistic 
services  affect  the  ability  of  the  women  to  make  necessary  provision  for 
old  age  incapacity?  There  is  danger  that  this  may  bear  an  inverse 
relationship  to  their  needs.  Thus  the  self-supporting  woman 
burdened  with  dependents  rarely  is  sought  in  marriage  and  the 
urgency  of  the  needs  of  those  whom  she  assists  often  is  a  measure  of 
the  lack  of  family  resources  to  which  the  woman  may  look  for  fu- 
ture protection.  Support  is  given  most  frequently  to  mothers 
and  sisters.  Persons  giving  assistance  to  dependents  of  their  own 
or  of  the  preceding  generation  cannot  receive  the  return  in  old  age 
which  may  be  expected  by  those  who  establish  claims  on  the  coming 
generation.  Thus  the  old  age  hazards  of  unmarried  women  who 
devote  their  lives  to  professional  or  business  services,  and  who  carry 
the  family  burdens  which  they  may  assume  to  an  increasing  extent 
are  greater  than  those  of  the  men  and  women  who  marry  and 
raise  children.  Hence  the  peculiar  need  of  self-supporting  women 
for  some  form  of  old-age  insurance  which  will  provide  a  minimum 
subsistence  income  during  the  period  after  retirement  from  gainful 
employment. 

OLD-AGE   INSURANCE 

The  teachers,  in  whose  ranks  are  found  two-thirds  of  the  trained 
or  professional  female  workers  of  the  United  States,  have  been 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  91 

the  first  of  our  self-supporting  women  to  discover  and  provide  for 
this  need.  Studensky  describes  22  state  and  72  local  teachers' 
pension  systems  which  were  in  operation  in  1917.1  The  salient 
features  of  the  history  of  the  teachers'  pension  systems  of  Massa- 
chusetts can  be  duplicated  wherever  efforts  have  been  made  to 
establish  systems  of  old-age  insurance.  The  failure  to  base  the 
pensions  on  sound  actuarial  calculations,  the  breakdown  of  volun- 
tary insurance,  the  necessity  for  compulsion  in  order  to  gain 
stability  for  the  system  and  to  enforce  the  insurance  of  those  whose 
needs  will  be  greatest,  and  the  superior  flexibility  of  contributory 
pensions  are  all  points  which  have  been  demonstrated  frequently 
in  the  experiences  of  fraternal  societies  and  in  the  histories  of 
national  systems  of  industrial  insurance. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  the  teachers  interviewed  in 
the  course  of  the  present  investigation  had  more  thrift  and  fore- 
sight than  the  average  gainfully  employed  woman,  yet  they 
showed  a  striking  inability  to  accumulate  savings  for  their  old-age 
support.  Table  14.  In  many  cases  this  was  due  to  a  generous 
response  to  the  needs  of  relatives,  in  others  there  was  a  failure  of 
foresight  and  self-control,  and  some  women  showed  a  childlike 
disposition  to  shift  upon  Providence  all  responsibility  for  their 
future  support.  It  is  true  also  that  many  of  the  older  teachers 
worked  during  the  earlier  years  of  their  professional  careers  for  in- 
credibly low  salaries.  The  compulsory,  contributory  pension  sys- 
tem established  for  the  state  teachers  in  1914  frees  a  part  of  the 
salary  from  the  demands  of  relatives,  forces  the  teacher  to  save  a 
portion  of  her  earnings,  and  makes  necessary  a  subsistence  income 
in  addition  to  the  reserve  held  for  future  needs.  Have  the  teachers 
obtained  an  old-age  protection  for  which  there  may  be  even  greater 
need  in  other  classes  of  gainfully  employed  women? 

Sound  standards  for  such  future  systems  of  old-age  insurance 
may  be  established  by  the  help  of  the  experiences  of  the  teachers. 
It  is  hoped  that  our  co-operating  investigators  will  gather  in- 
formation which  will  give  abundant  evidence  on  which  to  base 
the  final  discussion  of  the  topics  which  are  being  debated  by 
Massachusetts  teachers. 

iStudensky,  Paul,  Teachers'  Pension  Systems  in  the  United  States. 


92  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

The  following  questions  should  receive  consideration: 

(1)  Is  a  contributory  pension  system  like  that  established  for  the 
Massachusetts  teachers  outside  of  Boston  a  sounder  old-age  pro- 
vision than  the  -gift  pension  provided  by  the  city  of  Boston? 

(2)  Should  the  pension  system  established  by  law  provide  a  uni- 
form old-age  income  or  should  the  amounts  paid  vary  with  the  salaries 
earned  before  retirement  from  active  service? 

(3)  How  can  aged  pensioners  be  protected  from  losses  in  the 
purchasing  power  of  their  pensions? 

(4)  7s  it  desirable  that  the  old-age  protection  be  supplemented 
by  insurance  covering  invalidity? 

It  is  argued  that  a  gift  pension  may  be  repudiated  at  any  time 
because  it  has  become  an  intolerable  burden  to  the  taxpayers. 
Teachers  are  not  subject  to  the  peculiar  hazards  of  firemen  or 
policemen  and  they  far  outnumber  other  public  employees.  There 
are  differences  of  opinion  about  the  purpose  and  meaning  of  the 
old-age  pensions.  Some  assert  that  they  are  granted  in  order  to 
make  possible  the  retirement  of  teachers  whose  age  threatens  the 
efficiency  of  the  schools,  and  others  claim  that  they  are  deferred 
payments  of  salaries  which  are  given  in  order  to  retain  the  services 
of  experienced  teachers.  Those  who  take  the  latter  view  insist 
that  pensions  should  be  proportional  to  the  salaries  earned  before 
retirement.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  regard  the  pension 
chiefly  as  a  means  of  protecting  a  faithful  public  servant  from  old- 
age  suffering  insist  that  teachers  with  high  salaries  are  better  able 
to  provide  for  themselves  and  should  not  receive  a  larger  pension 
than  that  of  associates  whose  incomes  have  been  smaller.  These 
disputes  are  avoided  when  the  pension  is  purchased  by  contribu- 
tions apportioned  to  the  amounts  of  the  salaries,  as  there  is  an 
automatic  adjustment  to  variations  in  income. 

The  retired  teachers,  in  common  with  many  other  persons  who 
depend  on  fixed  incomes,  are  suffering  seriously  from  the  losses  in 
purchasing  power  of  money.  Thus  over  half  of  the  state  teachers 
receive  pensions  of  only  $300.  Table  31.  With  strict  economy  an 
aged  woman  might  have  subsisted  on  this  sum  in  a  rural  com- 
munity during  the  period  before  the  war,  but  it  is  quite  inadequate 
since  the  changes  in  the  cost  of  living.  Should  teachers  unite  with 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  93 

others  in  promoting  efforts  to  devise  means  of  stabilizing  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  money?1 

A  small  invalidity  pension  is  paid  by  the  Boston  Teachers7 
Retirement  Fund.  Should  such  insurance  be  a  feature  of  the  sys- 
tems devised  for  old-age  protection  or  would  it  be  better  to  separate 
completely  the  two  forms  of  insurance? 

SAVINGS  AND  THEIR  INVESTMENT 
Carefully  invested  savings  must  be  the  chief  resource  of  teachers 
who  wish  a  comfortable,  care-free,  old  age.  Compulsory  or  pub- 
licly supported  pension  or  insurance  systems  have  undertaken  to 
supply  only  a  bare  subsistence  income.  Half  of  those  which  have 
been  established  in  the  United  States  provide  for  maximum  an- 
nual payments  of  $500  or  less.2  The  provisions  of  the  Massachu- 
setts law  are  such  as  to  make  possible  a  maximum  pension  of  $1500 
which  is  one  of  the  highest  granted  by  any  state  or  city  system, 
but  as  we  have  seen,  over  half  of  its  women  beneficiaries  are  re- 
ceiving the  minimum  allowance  of  $300.  Table  31.  Tys  was  in- 
creased to  $400  in  1920,  but  the  law  is  not  retroactive.  Incomes 
from  savings  or  profitable  old-age  avocations  must  supplement 
these  pensions  if  the  teachers  are  to  escape  the  discomfort  which 
must  result  from  lowered  standards  of  living. 

Great  personal  variations  in  ability  or  inclination  to  save  were 
revealed  by  this  investigation  of  the  experiences  of  the  Massachu- 
setts teachers.  A  few  confessed  to  weak  resignation  or  childlike 
improvidence.  "I  gave  up  trying  to  provide  for  my  old  age  years 
ago,  and  that  too  though  I  had  no  dependents  to  support,"  wrote 
one.  Another  who  will  retire  in  a  few  months  at  the  age  of  seventy 
and  who  must  learn  to  live  on  one-third  of  what  she  has  spent  in 
the  past  writes,  "I  have  lived  a  very  improvident  life.  I  have 
taken  each  day  and  its  duty  or  burden  or  pleasure  and  paid  my 
way  and  looked  out  for  all  who  needed  me.  I  have  taken  almost 
no  thought  for  the  morrow.  *  *  *  I  can  live  on  the  pension 
and  annuity  fund  because  I  know  how  to  'be  abased  as  well  as 
how  to  abound/  I  have  no  fears  for  the  future.  I  live  for  today 
and  get  and  give  all  the  fun  I  can."  Women  of  these  types  were 

Hrving  Fisher's  plans  set  forth  in  his  book,  "Stabilizing  the  Dollar,"  might  be  considered  by 
those  interested  in  this  subject. 
2Studensky,  Paul,  Teachers'  Pension  Systems  in  the  United  States,  296-306. 


94  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

not  largely  represented  in  our  sample  groups,  but  it  is  possible  that 
they  are  more  numerous  in  the  entire  body  of  teachers,  as  others 
may  have  been  less  frank  in  confessing  their  inability  to  meet  the 
responsibilities  of  mature  life.  There  would  be  a  natural  tendency 
for  completer  returns  from  the  women  who  had  given  thought  and 
effort  to  the  subject  of  the  inquiry.  The  higher  proportion  of 
active  teachers  who  have  savings  suggests  also  a  growing  realiza- 
tion of  the  necessity  for  the  cultivation  of  thrift.  Do  compulsory 
contributions  to  a  pension  giving  minimum  old-age  support  assist  in 
keeping  before  the  teachers  the  need  for  further  provision  for  old  age? 

Numerous  records  of  the  triumph  of  foresight  and  self-denial 
over  adverse  circumstances  furnish  stimulating  examples  of  what 
may  be  accomplished  by  careful  planning  and  persistent  effort. 
We  will  add  a  few  illustrations  to  those  which  have  been  presented 
in  previous  chapters.  One  teacher,  orphaned  in  her  childhood, 
had  supported  herself  since  she  was  16  years  old.  She  did  house- 
work to  pay  expenses  while  in  the  high  school,  and  began  teaching 
with  a  salary  of  $231.  She  writes,  "Every  year  I  set  aside  a  cer- 
tain amount  after  allowing  for  living  expenses."  She  expects  to 
retire  at  60  with  savings  amounting  to  about  $8000.  Another 
report  of  persistent  thrift  reads,  "I  put  into  the  savings  bank  $50 
out  of  my  first  salary  of  $500,  and  I  have  saved  approximately 
ten  to  twenty  per  cent  of  my  earnings  each  year  since,  and  rein- 
vested my  income,  so  that  I  now  have  about  $20,000  *  *  *." 
One  remarkable  woman  who  bore  heavy  family  responsibilities 
until  she  was  45  years  old,  then  gave  herself  a  college  education, 
and  is  now  accumulating  funds  for  support  after  retirement,  ad- 
vises, "Save  a  little  every  month,  no  matter  how  heavy  your 
expenses.  Economize  on  clothes  and  amusements,  carfares  and 
lunches."  Analysis  of  these  and  similar  statements  from  the 
teachers  who  were  successful  in  accumulating  substantial  sums 
proves  that,  even  with  modest  salaries,  savings  for  old-age  support 
may  be  made  possible  by  a  systematic  cultivation  of  thrifty 
habits  during  a  number  of  years. 

When  should  the  teacher  begin  setting  aside  these  savings  for  her 
old-age  support?  Miss  Strong  concludes  from  her  study  of  Massa- 
chusetts teachers  that  "the  usual  way  for  the  teachers  is  to  care 
for  those  dependent  on  them,  improve  themselves  by  education 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  95 

and  travel,  advance  to  their  maximum  salary  and  then  provide  for 
their  old  age."  However,  such  a  program  is  not  so  simple  as  it 
sounds,  because  it  is  difficult  for  a  teacher  to  determine  when  she 
has  reached  the  place  where  further  investments  in  professional 
training  will  not  justify  themselves  by  increases  in  salary,  and  there 
are  many  who  wish  to  continue  their  studies  for  the  sake  of  the  per- 
sonal pleasure  and  development  which  they  bring. 

The  increased  difficulty  of  making  provision  for  old  age  when 
saving  for  this  purpose  is  deferred  until  late  in  life  is  shown  by  the 
variations  in  charges  for  old-age  pensions  sold  by  insurance  com- 
panies. The  cost  of  furnishing  such  a  pension  is  determined  by 
elaborate  actuarial  calculations  which  estimate  the  probabilities 
of  survival  of  the  beneficiary  and  the  earnings  of  premiums  when 
conservatively  invested.  We  will  assume  that  the  Massachusetts 
teacher  wishes  to  purchase  a  pension  of  $600.  This  sum  added  to 
the  state  minimum  of  $400  or  the  Boston  pension  of  $600  would 
give  the  income  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  retired  teacher. 
The  rates  charged  by  the  Massachusetts  State  Savings  Bank 
Insurance  are  typical  of  those  of  the  more  reliable  insurance  com- 
panies. In  order  to  purchase  a  pension  of  $600  beginning  at  the 
age  of  65,  monthly  payments  must  be  made  of  $5.10  from  the  age  of 
25,  $8.70  from  35,  of  $16.86  if  they  do  not  begin  until  45.  If  the 
pension  begins  at  60,  the  payments  will  be  $8.28  at  25,  $14.76  at 
35,  and  31.26  at  $45.  These  figures  represent  the  minimum  cost 
protection  for  old  age  which  is  made  possible  by  the  fact  that  some 
of  the  persons  who  have  paid  for  pensions  die  before  receiving  any 
returns  for  the  premiums  invested.  The  same  pension  beginning 
at  the  age  of  60  combined  with  insurance  for  $750  would  require 
monthly  premiums  of  $8.97  if  payments  began  at  25,  $15.57  at  35, 
and  $32.34  at  45.  Thus  the  amounts  which  must  be  saved  double 
with  each  ten  years  of  delay  in  beginning  the  payments. 

Should  the  type  of  work  selected  be  a  factor  in  determining  when 
a  teacher  should  begin  systematic  saving  for  her  old-age  support? 
Those  who  feel  satisfied  with  positions  in  the  elementary  schools 
which  usually  require  shorter  periods  of  training  might  begin 
setting  aside  savings  for  the  period  after  retirement  when  they  are 
between  20  and  30,  while  those  preferring  positions  requiring  more 
preparation  could  defer  the  making  of  old-age  provision  until  they 


96  OLD-AGE   SUPPOKT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

are  30  or  over.  It  seems  unwise  to  postpone  all  saving  for  old  age 
until  it  becomes  an  imperative  necessity  which  forbids  the  indul- 
gence in  recreational  and  cultural  opportunities  needed  to  give 
value  to  the  teacher's  life. 

High  courage  and  self-confidence  are  required  by  those  women 
who,  as  one  teacher  expressed  it,  "venture  to  speculate  on  them- 
selves" by  borrowing  money  or  by  spending  all  their  savings  for 
many  years  in  order  to  fit  themselves  for  supervisory  positions  or 
for  more  scholarly  work.  The  opportunities  for  women  to  make 
use  of  higher  training  are  limited  and  the  salaries  in  college  posi- 
tions open  to  them  frequently  are  less  than  those  of  good  high 
schools.  Fortunately  for  the  cause  of  the  enlargement  of  the  pro- 
fessional outlook  of  women,  there  always  will  be  courageous  and 
gifted  pioneers  who  will  take  chances  and  make  financial  sacrifices 
in  order  to  claim  the  right  to  make  use  of  their  talents.1  Such 
women  must  work  out  individual  solutions  for  their  problems  of 
old-age  protection,  or  must  accept  with  fortitude  the  consequences 
of  the  course  which  they  have  chosen. 

What  are  the  forms  of  investment  found  most  satisfactory  for 
teachers  in  different  parts  of  the  country?  Is  the  conservatism  of 
the  Massachusetts  teachers  a  typical  characteristic  of  self-supporting 
women?  Savings  banks  for  small  sums  which  should  be  available 
for  emergencies,  endowment  insurance  policies  which  mature  when 
the  woman  is  between  50  and  60  years  of  age,  and  furnish  funds  for 
investment  in  annuities,2  shares  in  co-operative  banks  which  are 
safe  and  yet  give  a  high  rate  of  interest,  and  Liberty  bonds,  are  all 
investments  which  involve  no  risk. 

The  rapid  depreciation  in  value  of  the  modest  incomes  yielded 
by  the  painfully  gathered  and  carefully  invested  funds  of  the 
Massachusetts  teachers  raises  the  question  of  whether  real  estate 
gives  greater  safety  in  old  age  than  annuities  or  other  fixed  in- 
comes from  reliable  securities.  Less  than  10  per  cent  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts teachers  reported  such  investments.  One  teacher  ex- 
pressed the  objections  to  such  use  of  savings :  "Real  estate  owner- 

iWe  have  not  collected  schedules  from  women  teachers  in  colleges  but  extensive  and  varied 
personal  observations  indicate  that  they  may  experience  greater  difficulty  in  making  provision 
for  their  old  age  than  the  public  school  teachers  for  whom  modest  pensions  frequently  are  pro- 
vided by  law. 

2  A  study  of  the  extent  to  which  women  make  use  of  commercial  insurance  agencies  has  been 
made  in  our  Research  Department.  Its  results  will  be  published  at  a  later  date. 


OLD-AGE   SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS  97 

ship  as  I  have  found  it  ties  you  down  so.  You  can't  travel,  for  it 
constantly  calls  for  expenditures  hard  to  meet.  It  keeps  you 
property  poor."  Another  who  has  cared  for  3  to  5  dependents, 
found  the  purchase  of  a  two-family  house  an  effective  means  of 
meeting  difficult  financial  problems.  She  rents  one  apartment 
and  3  rooms  of  the  other  in  which  she  lives.  She  reports,  "It  is 
a  hard  proposition  and  represents  great  self-denial  but  it  is  the 
only  way  I  can  see  to  provide  for  my  old  age  and  that  of  my  sister 
who  is  the  only  one  now  left."  Several  teachers  look  forward  to 
providing  themselves  rural  or  village  homes  for  use  after  retire- 
ment. One  writes,  "I  have  bought  land  in  a  pleasant  town  about 
20  miles  from  Boston,  shall  build  a  house,  adopt  a  boy,  keep  hens, 
and  raise  strawberries.  A  thrifty  Scotch  woman  says,  "I  hope  to 
buy  a  modest  house  to  retire  to  in  some  country  village.  There  I 
hope  to  engage  in  the  village  activities  and  improvements  and  be 
able  to  live  with  my  sister  on  my  pension  and  interest  without 
worry."  Is  it  desirable  that  teachers  should  endeavor  to  gratify 
before  the  time  of  retirement  this  longing  for  a  homef  In  view  of  the 
danger  of  the  decline  in  the  purchasing  power  of  money,  would  her  old- 
age  provision  be  rendered  more  secure  by  a  division  of  her  assets  be- 
tween real  estate  and  other  investments  yielding  a  money  income? 

CO-OPERATION  FOR  OLD-AGE  PROTECTION 

The  present  study  yielded  but  slight  evidence  of  co-operation  in 
making  provision  for  old  age.  Instances  of  friends  and  relatives 
who  were  able  to  lessen  living  expenses  by  keeping  house  together 
and  one  case  of  a  joint  fund  for  old-age  protection  suggest  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  combination  of  resources.  A  co-operative  enter- 
prise undertaken  by  two  Ohio  teachers  might  be  carried  out  on  a 
larger  scale.  They  purchased  a  small  farm  to  which  they  are  de- 
voting their  energies  during  summer  vacations.  When  this  prop- 
erty is  developed,  it  will  afford  pleasant  and  profitable  outings 
during  the  period  of  active  professional  lif e  and  will  supply  a  home 
and  a  modest  income  after  retirement.  A  group  of  teachers  who 
are  fond  of  rural  life  might  make  a  great  success  of  such  an  under- 
taking. This  would  be  a  country  club'  with  practical  as  well  as 
recreational  features.  Fruit  and  bees  easily  could  be  cared  for  by 
such  a  group  of  women,  and  modern  power  cultivators  make  pos- 


98  OLD-AGE  SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

sible  other  crops.  The  long  summer  vacations  and  freedom  on 
Saturdays  give  teachers  an  advantage  over  business  women  in 
carrying  out  such  plans. 

Would  it  be  desirable  that  the  teachers  of  city  school  systems  establish 
homes  for  aged  teachers?  Medical  care,  nursing  and  other  services 
needed  by  the  aged  could  be  supplied  at  minimum  cost  in  such 
homes.  With  careful  management  it  might  be  possible  to  give 
care  without  a  greater  charge  than  could  be  met  by  the  legally 
established  pension.  The  objections  to  old  ladies'  homes  raised 
by  one  teacher  might  be  less  if  all  the  guests  were  retired  teachers. 
She  writes,  "I  have  met  good  women  living  in  old  ladies'  homes 
who  were  so  garrulous  because  of  uncultivated  minds,  often  enter- 
taining no  constructive  thoughts,  that  they  wearied  me,  and  I 
should  be  unhappy  living  with  them." 

THE  TEACHER'S  NEED  OF  AN  AVOCATION 
The  greater  longevity  of  women  and  their  superior  mental  and 
physical  vigor  during  old  age  have  been  shown  frequently  in 
statistics  dealing  with  characteristics  of  the  aged.  It  is  true  also 
that  teachers  like  preachers  are  above  the  average  in  their  ages  of 
survival.  When  teachers'  pension  systems  are  established,  usually 
a  compulsory  age  of  retirement  is  fixed.  This  is  a  sound  policy 
since  only  in  exceptional  cases  would  it  be  desirable  to  retain  in  the 
schoolrooms  teachers  over  70  years  of  age.  Yet  there  are  many 
women  who  are  vigorous  and  active  until  they  are  10  to  15  years 
older.  Teachers  and  other  professional  women  who  have  devoted 
their  lives  to  worthy  services  cannot  retire  to  the  vacuous  round  of 
the  elderly  women  found  in  many  boarding  houses  and  family 
hotels.  Worthy  channels  must  be  provided  into  which  they  may 
direct  their  lessened  energies.  Hence  the  need  of  an  avocation, 
which  could  be  cultivated  as  a  diversion  while  in  active  service, 
and  would  supply  an  interest  or  even  an  income  during  the  period 
after  retirement.  What  avocations  suitable  for  old  age  have  been 
discovered  by  retired  teachers  or  older  professional  women  living  in 
other  states?  We  particularly  desire  reports  on  this  subject  from 
our  co-operating  investigators. 

The  fine  arts  are  acknowledged  to  be  the  means  of  supplying 
cultured  persons  with  the  most  worthy  and  absorbing  recreational 


OLD-AGE  SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS  99 

interests.  Teachers  who  have  literary,  artistic  or  musical  ability 
should  be  careful  to  continue  the  cultivation  of  these  talents,  as 
they  furnish  forms  of  enjoyment  which  will  give  greater  value  to 
the  period  after  retirement.  Such  interests  retain  their  hold  until 
late  in  life.  Indeed,  creative  ability  in  these  fields  is  not  uncommon 
in  persons  who  are  beyond  the  ages  when  teachers  retire  from  their 
schoolrooms. 

Various  forms  of  social  service  have  been  noticed  in  Miss 
Proctor's  account  of  the  old-age  experiences  of  Massachusetts 
teachers.  Such  altruistic  activities  seem  peculiarly  suitable  for 
women  with  the  thorough  knowledge  of  human  nature  which  must 
be  acquired  by  experienced  teachers.  One  Boston  teacher  furnishes 
an  attractive  example  of  deliberate  preparation  for  such  work. 
Realizing  that  many  towns  have  libraries  which  are  too  small  and 
poor  to  employ  efficient  librarians,  she  plans  to  prepare  herself  to 
give  trained  services  for  a  modest  compensation.  She  is  taking 
courses  given  in  summer  sessions  of  colleges  in  order  to  prepare 
herself  for  the  finest  type  of  library  service.  When  she  decides  on 
her  field  of  work,  she  will  buy  a  home  and  endeavor  to  become  a 
helpful  influence  in  the  community.  Similar  training  could  be 
procured  for  other  forms  of  social  service  which  might  serve  as 
avocations  during  the  active  period  and  supply  more  absorbing 
interests  after  retirement. 

SOCIAL  AND  PERSONAL  ADJUSTMENTS 

The  present  study  deals  primarily  with  the  economic  needs  of 
women  who  have  been  self-supporting  throughout  life,  but  social 
and  personal  adjustments  are  as  imperative  as  economic  if  a 
happy  old  age  is  to  be  insured.  The  women  who  reported  their 
experiences  are  representative  of  a  rapidly  increasing  group  who 
are  like  the  worker  bees  in  that  they  devote  themselves  to  the  serv- 
ice of  society  rather  than  to  its  continuance.  Sanctions  must  be 
discovered  which  will  give  beauty  and  value  to  the  forms  of  per- 
sonal development  which  are  possible  in  such  lives.  We  are  in 
need  of  a  new  literature  which  will  assist  these  women  to  a  refocus- 
ing  of  their  emotions.  Many  go  through  life  with  a  consciousness 
of  defeat  because  of  their  inability  to  adjust  their  enthusiasms  to 
the  realities  of  daily  living.  In  this  age  of  marvelous  enrichment 


100  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF   WOMEN   TEACHERS 

of  the  lives  of  women,  substitutes  may  be  discovered  for  the  time- 
honored  satisfactions  of  the  grandmothers  of  the  past.  Descrip- 
tions of  happy  personal  and  social  adjustments  during  old  age  will 
be  of  great  value  for  our  final  report,  as  they  may  prove  suggestive 
to  the  women  who  have  not  discovered  a  road  to  the  peace  and 
serenity  which  should  reward  lives  devoted  to  worthy  services. 


APPENDIX 


CARE   OF   OLDER   WOMEN   EMPLOYEES   BY  BOSTON 
RETAIL   STORES1 

By  SARAH  LOUISE  PROCTOR 

Eighteen  large  and  long-established  retail  dry  goods  and  clothing 
stores  were  visited  in  order  to  discover  what  proportion  of  the 
female  employees  continued  their  services  until  overtaken  by  the 
incapacity  of  old  age,  and  to  discuss  with  the  store  managers  the 
policies  which  they  have  adopted  in  dealing  with  older  women 
workers. 

It  was  discovered  that  a  comparatively  small  proportion  of 
these  older  women  had  service  records  which  would  establish 
strong  claims  on  their  employers.  Only  one  in  ten  (9.9  per  cent) 
of  the  4190  women  for  whom  data  were  available  had  been  with  the 
firms  where  they  were  found  employed  for  ten  or  more  consecutive 
years.  Elderly  women  who  had  spent  their  wage-earning  lives  be- 
hind the  counters  of  Boston  stores  were  found,2  but  their  periods  of 
service  were  distributed  in  such  a  way  that  no  strong  claims  for 
old-age  pensions  were  established  with  the  firms  where  they  were 
employed.  Typical  cases  will  illustrate  the  situation:  Miss  M 
had  been  with  one  store  for  21  years,  with  another  for  6  years,  and 
but  2  years  with  the  company  whose  records  were  examined.  Mrs. 
K  had  worked  26  years  in  one  store  and  but  7  years  for  her  present 
employer.  An  interview  with  a  third  woman  still  active  but  near- 
ing  eighty,  revealed  a  similar  situation.  She  had  been  saleswoman 
and  buyer  for  over  thirty-six  years,  spending  twenty-five  years  of 
that  time  with  one  firm,  but  had  held  her  present  position  for 
only  three  years.  In  point  of  service,  she  would  be  entitled  to 
little  consideration  from  her  employer  though  the  time  was  not 
far  distant  when  she  would  be  forced  to  retire.  However,  store 
managers  recognize  that,  with  the  development  of  more  stable 
groups  of  workers,  definite  policies  for  assisting  older  employees 
should  be  formulated.  The  accounts  of  their  efforts  to  meet  in- 

iThis  is  a  summary  of  Miss  Proctor's  report  of  her  study  of  the  policies  of  Boston  retail 
stores  in  dealing  with  older  female  employees. — Lucile  Eavea. 
2Four  of  these  women  had  worked  in  retail  stores  48  to  50  years. 


104  APPENDIX 

dividual  needs  show  clearly  the  transition  from  the  desultory 
charitable  aid  of  the  past  to  established  pension  systems  giving 
recognized  claims.  A  summary  of  these  statements  shows  that 
six  of  the  stores  aided  their  older  women  with  gifts  of  money 
when  very  trying  situations  arose.  Five  firms  had  some  form  of 
pensioning;  one  of  this  number  had  a  fixed  policy  adopted  in  1920, 
while  two  others  were  seriously  considering  pension  plans.  Six 
employers  had  made  consistent  efforts  to  shift  their  older  women 
employees  into  easier  jobs,  while  five  covered  their  activities 
along  these  lines  by  the  insistent  statement,  "We  care  for  our 
women."  Nine  firms  let  their  older  women  come  in  for  shorter 
hours,  for  which  all  but  one  paid  full  wages. 

Gifts  of  Money 

Charitable  donations  to  older  employees  took  different  forms 
in  the  various  stores.  Five  of  the  firms  made  such  gifts  in  cases  of 
sickness  and  accidents,  and  one  of  these  also  made  a  grant  of 
money  when  laying  off  those  who  had  become  inefficient  because 
of  age.  Thus  a  woman  who  had  been  with  the  store  for  about 
fifteen  years,  but  who  had  become  lax  in  selling  and  was  known 
to  be  financially  well  off,  was  given  $300  and  dismissed  in  as  kindly 
a  way  as  possible.  A  woman  dismissed  or  quitting  after  about 
five  years  of  satisfactory  service  usually  was  given  two  to  three 
weeks'  wages,  while  one  who  had  worked  in  the  store  for  ten  years 
was  given  approximately  $100.  There  were  no  fixed  scales  for  the 
gifts  of  money:  such  matters  were  private  and  personal,  and  de- 
pendent entirely  on  the  judgment  or  good  will  of  the  store  officials. 

Pensions  for  Store  Workers 

The  one  formal  pension  system  in  use  has  the  following  main 
provisions:  Women  are  eligible  for  pensions  upon  becoming  sixty 
years  of  age  and  incapacitated  for  work.  It  is  necessary  for  them 
to  have  served  the  company  for  at  least  ten  continuous  years  im- 
mediately prior  to  becoming  sixty  years  of  age.  The  employee  is 
required  to  make  written  application  for  the  pension,  giving  the 
nature  of  her  incapacity  and  a  statement  as  to  her  financial  re- 
sources. When  this  statement  has  been  verified  by  the  Superin- 
tendent, the  application  is  sent  to  the  President,  who  is  required  to 


APPENDIX  105 

act  upon  it  within  thirty  days.  The  pensions  are  computed  in  the 
following  way:  The  yearly  pension  is  a  sum  equal  to  3  per  cent 
of  the  average  annual  salary,  for  the  10  years  immediately  preced- 
ing the  date  of  making  application,  multiplied  by  the  number  of 
years  of  service  of  the  applicant,  providing  this  average  annual 
salary  amounts  to  $20  or  less  weekly.  If  it  amounts  to  more  than 
$20  weekly,  the  yearly  pension  is  a  sum  equal  to  2  per  cent  of  the 
average  annual  salary  multiplied  by  the  number  of  years  of  service, 
excepting  that  in  no  event  shall  a  pension  exceed  90  per  cent  of  the 
salary  of  the  applicant  prior  to  her  filing  an  application.  The 
President  can,  upon  his  own  volition,  place  anyone  upon  the 
pension  rolls.  This  provision  makes  it  possible  for  a  person  to  re- 
ceive a  pension  even  though  she  has  not  worked  in  the  store  for 
ten  years.  At  the  time  of  the  survey,  this  firm  had  no  women 
upon  its  pension  rolls  although  several  were  eligible  to  make 
application.  Those  who  were  eligible  were  described  as  '  'active, 
valuable  employees  who  would  resent  any  suggestion  of  their 
being  pensioned."  This  pension  system  was  adopted  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  employees.  The  company  was  proud  of  it,  but  to 
quote  one  of  the  executives,  "We  use  it  with  discretion  since  we 
believe  that  men  and  women  who  have  spent  the  greater  part  of 
their  lives  in  the  store  are  happier  continuing  in  their  work.  When- 
ever possible  we  give  them  a  lighter  job  and  let  them  come  in  for 
shorter  hours  as  long  as  they  are  strong  enough.  Many  of  them,  if 
deprived  of  their  work  and  taken  away  from  the  constant  contact 
with  people  which  store  life  affords,  would  feel  that  they  were  old 
and  had  been  'laid  on  the  shelf.  They  know  that  the  pension  is 
available  and  that  they  may  apply  for  it.  We  want  to  see  them 
contented  and  happy,  not  ill  and  dissatisfied." 

Two  other  firms,  feeling  that  they  had  been  in  business  long 
enough  to  have  older  employees  whose  faithful  services  deserved 
recognition,  were  considering  plans  for  definite  pension  systems. 

Gift  pensions  were  enjoyed  by  a  few  women  whose  employers 
appreciated  their  years  of  faithful  services.  The  head  of  one  firm 
had  died  and  provided  in  his  will  that  the  two  women  in  the  store 
who  had  been  there  practically  since  its  opening,  should  receive 
fifteen  dollars  a  week  each,  so  long  as  they  lived  and  remained 
unmarried.  At  the  time  of  this  survey,  these  two  women,  though 


106  APPENDIX 

pensioned,  were  still  selling  in  the  store  and  bade  fair  to  be  actively 
and  happily  engaged  for  some  years  to  come.  One  of  these  had 
been  with  the  firm  over  fifty  years.  Another  store  had  the  gen- 
erous record  of  five  women  who  had  been  granted  pensions  equal 
to  their  full  pay.  Two  of  these  women  had  died  in  old  ladies' 
homes,  one  was  living  in  such  a  home,  and  a  fourth  was  on  the  wait- 
ing list  for  admission.  All  of  them  entered  institutions  because 
they  were  alone  in  the  world  and  because  they  wished  the  com- 
panionship of  persons  of  their  own  age  and  the  continuous  care 
given  by  the  homes.  One  of  these  women  pensioned  on  full  pay 
after  fifty  years  of  service  in  the  store,  constantly  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  resume  her  work.  Without  it  she  was  lonely  and  un- 
happy. The  company  finally  consented,  but  she  was  not  strong 
enough  to  render  efficient  service.  A  serious  illness  and  a  fall 
made  necessary  a  second  retirement.  On  recovery  she  cherished 
the  vain  hope  that  she  might  return  again  to  her  work.  She  was 
often  visited  by  the  other  employees  in  the  store  who  fondly  re- 
ferred to  her  as  "grandmother. " 

Lightening  the  Work  of  Older  Women  Employees 

Eight  of  the  eighteen  stores  arranged  a  shorter  work  day  for 
their  older  women  without  reduction  in  wages,  and  one  less  gen- 
erous firm  shortened  the  work  day  but  paid  at  a  reduced  rate. 
The  hours  of  work  were  sometimes  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
women,  who  were  told  to  come  in  when  they  felt  like  it  and  to 
leave  when  they  were  tired.  Other  stores  permitted  the  older 
women  to  begin  work  at  ten  or  eleven  and  to  leave  an  hour  earlier 
than  other  employees. 

Various  replies  came  in  regard  to  the  feasibility  of  shifting  older 
women  into  easier  jobs.  One  store  executive  exclaimed  with  em- 
phasis, "There  isn't  an  easy  job  in  our  store."  Another  said  he 
had  successfully  moved  one  woman  from  a  counter  where  it  had 
been  necessary  for  her  to  handle  heavy  bolts  of  cloth,  to  the  no- 
tion department  where  she  could  sit  and  do  her  selling.  On  the 
other  hand,  an  executive  of  a  third  company  ridiculed  the  idea  of 
such  a  shift  for  he  considered  a  notion  counter  one  of  the  most 
trying  positions  in  the  store,  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  counter  where 
quickness  counts  before  all  else.  Still  another  store  had  given  up 


APPENDIX 


107 


its  factory  division  and  in  so  doing  had  thrown  fifteen  older 
women  out  of  work.  Each  case  was  carefully  investigated  in  an 
effort  to  ascertain  home  and  financial  conditions.  Whenever  it 
was  possible  these  women  were  shifted  into  regular  positions  in 
the  store  proper.  Those  who  could  not  be  cared  for  in  this  way 
were  presented  with  three  or  four  weeks'  wages.  For  some  time 
the  firm  helped  find  work  for  these  people  in  various  parts  of  the 
city  and  was  continuing  to  keep  in  touch  with  them  and  to  give 
tjiem  odd  jobs  whenever  possible.  Of  those  successfully  trans- 
ferred to  the  store,  one  was  given  work  as  dishwasher  in  the  lunch 
room  where  the  hours  were  short,  another  as  matron  in  the  rest 
room,  a  third  as  cleaner,  while  still  others  were  made  seamstresses 
in  the  alteration  room.  The  executives  of  some  stores  questioned 
the  feasibility  of  placing  older  women  in  tfre  alteration  depart- 
ment inasmuch  as  this  department  demands  skilled  seamstresses 
and  swift  fingers,  since  practically  all  alterations  are  rush  orders. 
Though  one  firm  did  concede  that  places  might  be  found  for 
women  who  would  remove  bastings. 

Three  stores  had  successfully  shifted  women  from  selling  to 
marking,  while  one  had  placed  a  woman  at  clerical  work  in  the 
credit  department  where  she  could  sit  and  relax  as  her  failing 
strength  demanded.  Some  of  the  stores  put  older  women  in  charge 
of  their  check  rooms.  Another  firm  felt  that  it  was  virtually  pen- 
sioning an  old  employee  by  putting  her  on  a  power  tag  machine 
where  very  little  was  required  of  her.  She  had  been  with  the  com- 
pany over  thirty  years.  Since  she  was  enjoying  her  old  wages 
and  had  been  made  to  feel  that  she  was  still  a  part  of  industry, 
she  was  quite  happy  and  contented.  This  same  store  employed 
another  former  saleswoman  in  making  curtains  and  draperies 
on  a  power  machine.  This  woman  found  the  work  congenial 
and  was  able  to  earn  her  wage  while  continuing  to  serve  the 
store. 

One  company,  valuing  very  highly  a  certain  saleswoman  and 
buyer  who  was  nearing  seventy  years  of  age,  had  hired  a  boy 
to  do  her  errands.  For  instance,  this  lad  was  sent  to  the 
store  room  for  her,  helped  her  to  keep  the  stock  dusted  and  in 
order,  and  then  filled  in  his  time  with  various  odd  jobs  around 
the  store. 


108  APPENDIX 

Lengthening  Terms  of  Service  of  Store  Employees 

Increased  recognition  of  the  value  of  a  stable  working  force 
has  resulted  in  well-organized  efforts  for  lengthening  the  terms  of 
service  in  the  Boston  stores.  For  example,  the  department  store 
having  the  largest  pay  roll  maintains  a  "Quarter  Century  Club." 
Men  and  women  who  have  been  with  the  firm  for  twenty-five  years 
are  eligible  for  membership.  Banquets  and  other  social  gatherings 
stimulate  interest  in  the  Club  and  bring  those  who  win  admission 
into  more  intimate  relations  with  experienced  and  influential 
members  of  the  store  staff.  Efforts  to  adjust  services  to  the 
strength  of  faithful,  elderly  employees,  and  pension  systems  seem 
to  be  logical  outgrowths  of  such  plans  for  retaining  workers  during 
the  period  of  their  wage-earning  lives.  In  the  absence  of  a  general, 
publicly-administered  old-age  pension  system,  it  seems  probable 
that  other  large  retail  establishments  will  devise  plans  which  will 
give  their  employees  a  subsistence  income  after  retirement  from 
long  services. 


APPENDIX 


109 


STATISTICAL  TABLES  CITED  IN  THE  TEXT 
OF  OLD-AGE  SUPPORT  OF  WOMEN  TEACHERS 

TABLE  21.     LENGTH  OF  SERVICE  OF  190  ACTIVE  MASSA- 
CHUSETTS WOMEN  TEACHERS 

(Sample  Group  from  whom  Schedules  were  obtained) 


YEARS  OF  SERVICE 

Number  of  Teachers  whose  Years 
of  Service  Were  as  Specified: 

Boston 

State 
outside  Boston 

Total 

85 

2 
8 
15 
14 
20 
14 
5 
1 
6 

105 

4 
18 
28 
18 
18 
8 
5 
3 

3 

15  years  or  less,       

16  to  20  years,               .                 .     . 

21  to  25  years,    

26  to  30  years,   

31  to  35  years, 

36  to  40  years,   

41  to  45  years, 

46  to  50  years 

51  years,        .            

Not  stated,   

TABLE  22.    LENGTH  OF  SERVICE  IN  THE  BOSTON  SCHOOLS  OF 

WOMEN  TEACHERS  AS  INDICATED  BY  CHANGES  NOTED  AT 

FIVE-YEAR  INTERVALS  IN  THE  NAMES  REGISTERED  IN  THE 

BOSTON  EDUCATIONAL  DIRECTORY 


LENGTH  OF  SERVICE 

Average 
Serving 
Specified 
Periods 

Numberi  of  Women  Teachers  who  had 
served  for  periods  specified  prior  to  the  last 
appearance  of  their  names  in  the  Educa- 
tional Directories  of  the  dates  stated. 

1920 

1915 

1910 

1905 

1900 

Total,       

2359.6 

2927 

2748 

2479 

2024 

1620 

Less  than  6  years, 

690.0 

683 

673 

851 

708 

535 

6  years  to  10  years,     . 

503.8 

501 

685 

547 

432 

345 

11  years  to  15  years,    . 

372.2 

564 

463 

363 

282 

189 

16  years  to  20  years,    . 

267.4 

419 

328 

237 

163 

190 

21  years  to  25  years,    . 

179.2 

286 

213 

146 

169 

82 

26  years  to  30  years,    . 

130.8 

179 

131 

145 

73 

126 

31  years  to  35  years,    . 

98.0 

113 

124 

59 

107 

87 

36  years  to  40  years,   . 

64.4 

98 

50 

76 

57 

41 

41  years  to  45  years,   . 

32.8 

35 

55 

37 

22 

15 

46  years  to  50  years,    . 

15.2 

30 

19 

13 

6 

8 

51  years  and  over, 

5.8 

10 

7 

5 

5 

2 

iFor  Per  cents  see  Table  No.  7. 


110 


APPENDIX 


TABLE    23.      AGE    PERIODS    WHEN    ACTIVE    MASSACHUSETTS 
TEACHERS    REPORTED    EXPENDITURES    FOR    PROFESSIONAL 

ADVANCEMENT 


Teachers  Reporting  Expenditures 

in  Specified  Age  Periods 

AGE  PERIODS 

For  Education 

For  Travel 

Number 

Per  Cent.* 

Number 

Per  Cent  .2 

Teachers1  reporting 

113 

59.5 

109 

57.4 

Under  20  years,    . 

19 

10.1 

5 

2.7 

20-29  years,    .      . 

65 

34.5 

42 

22.3 

30-39,  .... 

72 

38.5 

70 

37.4 

40-49,  .... 

56 

31.5 

59 

33.1 

50-59,  .... 

28 

23.9 

27 

23.1 

60-70,  .... 

10 

20.4 

8 

16.3 

Unknown  age 

periods, 

10 

11 

iRecords  for  190  teachers  were  studied:  of  these  83  invested  in  both  study  and  travel;  46  in 
neither :  6  failed  to  give  the  desired  information.  Since  teachers  expended  money  for  these  pur- 
poses in  more  than  one  age  period,  there  are  numerous  cases  of  multiple  counting. 

*The  bases  used  in  calculating  these  percentages  will  be  found  in  Table  9  which  gives  the 
number  of  teachers  reporting  their  expenditures  in  each  age  period. 


TABLE  24.    AGE  PERIODS  WHEN  147  ACTIVE  MASSACHUSETTS 
TEACHERS  HAD  DEPENDENTS 


AGE   PERIODS 


Number  of  Teachers  who  Reported 
Dependents  in  Specified  Age  Periods! 


Number 

Per  Cent. 

Under  20  years,       

20 

10.6 

20-29  years, 

70 

37.2 

30-39,      

90 

48.1 

40-49,      

93 

52.2 

50-59                                   .... 

50 

42.7 

60-70 

16 

32.7 

No  information  as  to  age  periods, 

18 

iThe  bases  used  in  calculating  these  percentages  will  be  found  in  Table  9  which  gives  the 
number  of  teachers  reporting  their  expenditures  in  each  age  period. 


APPENDIX 


111 


TABLE  25.    AGE  PERIODS  WHEN  174  ACTIVE  MASSACHUSETTS 
WOMEN  TEACHERS  MADE  SAVINGS 


AGE 

[PERIODS 

Teachers  Reporting  Savings  in  Specified 
Age  Periods: 

Number 

Per  Centl 

Under  20  years,  . 
20-29,      .      .      . 

4 
42 
66 
72 
39 
14 
33 

2.1 
22.3 
35.3 
40.5 
33.3 
28.6 

30-39 

40-49,      .      .     . 

50-59 

60-70,      .      .      . 

No  information  a 

3  to  age  period, 

iThe  bases  used  in  calculating  these  percentages  will  be  found  in  Table  9  which  gives  the 
number  of  teachers  reporting  their  expenditures  in  each  age  period. 


TABLE  26.    AGE  PERIODS  WHEN  174  ACTIVE  MASSACHUSETTS 
WOMEN  TEACHERS  MADE  INVESTMENTS 

Number  of  Teachers  in  Specified  Age  Periods  who  Made 
the  Following  Investments: 


AGE  PERIODS 

Total 

Savings 
Banks 

Co-oper- 
ative 
Banks 

Insur- 
ance 

Real 
Estate 

Stocks 
and 
Bonds 

Liberty 
Bonds 

Total,       .... 

635 

203 

100 

140 

58 

63 

71 

Jnder  20  years, 

11 

7 

2 

1 

1 

— 

— 

20-29  years,       .      .      . 

71 

37 

8 

18 

4 

3 

1 

JO-39  years,       .      .      . 

134 

47 

22 

37 

14 

11 

3 

tO-49  years,       .      .      . 

169 

44 

27 

43 

14 

18 

23 

>0-59  years,       .      .      . 

121 

30 

17 

23 

9 

10 

32 

>0-70  years,       .      .     . 

35 

8 

6 

7 

1 

2 

11 

Jnknown  age  periods, 

94 

30 

18 

11 

15 

19 

1 

112 


APPENDIX 


TABLE   27.     AMOUNT   OF   SUPPORT   GIVEN    TO   DEPENDENTS 
BY    147   ACTIVE    MASSACHUSETTS   WOMEN   TEACHERS 


Teachers  who  gave  Specified  Dependents: 

Total  Support 

Partial  Support 

NUMBER  OF  - 
DEPENDENTS 

Number 

Per  Cent. 
Based  on 
190  or 
Whole 
Sample 
Group 

Per  Cent. 
Based  on 
147  with 
Depen- 
dents 

Number 

Per  Cent. 
Based  on 
190  or 
Whole 
Sample 
Group 

Per  Cent. 
Based  on 
147  with 
Depen- 
dents 

Total      .      .      . 

54 

28.4 

36.7 

123 

64.7 

83.7 

One,     .... 

35 

18.4 

23.8 

46 

24.2 

31.3 

Two,     .... 

13 

6.8 

8.8 

43 

22.6 

29.3 

Three,  .... 

3 

1.6 

2.0 

12 

6.3 

8.2 

Four,    .... 

2 

1.1 

1.4 

13 

6.8 

8.8 

Five  or  more, 

1 

.5 

.7 

9 

4.7 

6.1 

No  data  regarding 

number, 

7 

3.7 

4.8 

7 

3.7 

4.8 

TABLE    28.      METHODS    BY    WHICH    ACTIVE    MASSACHUSETTS 
TEACHERS  SUPPLEMENTED  THEIR  SALARIES 


SUPPLEMENTARY  SOURCES 

Number  of  Teachers  Reporting  Specified 
Means  of  Supplementing  their  Incomes  : 

Number 

Per  Cent. 

Total  reporting,       

1901 

100. 

No  means  of  supplementing  salary, 

91 

47.9 

Inheritance,      

51 

26.8 

Part-time  earnings, 

32 

16.8 

Vacation  with  relatives,    

18 

9.5 

Permanent  home  with  relatives, 

12 

6.3 

Other  help  from  relatives,      .... 

1 

.5 

iSince  11  teachers  had  2  methods  of  supplementing  their  incomes,  and  2  had  3.  the  figures 
and  percentages  add  to  a  larger  number  than  that  reported  in  the  total.  The  number  of 
women  reporting  was  used  as  the  base  in  calculating  percentages. 


APPENDIX 


113 


TABLE    29.      SAVINGS    OF    ACTIVE    MASSACHUSETTS    WOMEN 

TEACHERS 


AMOUNT  OF  SAVINGS 

Number  of  Teachers  who  Saved 
Specified  Amount 

Number 

Per  Cent. 

Total,                        

190 

16 
27 
29 
23 
12 
12 
9 
3 
3 
1 
4 
7 
1 
43 

100. 

8.4 
14.2 
15.3 
12.1 
6.3 
6.3 
4.7 
1.6 
1.6 
.5 
2.1 
3.7 
.5 
22.6 

No  savings,       

$1-1,000,     .      .   ,  

$1,001-2,000,    

$2,001-3,000,    

$3,001-4,000,    

$4,001-5,000,    

$5,001-6,000,    

$6,001-7,000,    

$7,001-8,000,    
$8,001-9,000,    
$9,001-10,000,        

10,001-15,000,        
$15,001-20,000,      

Amount  unknown,       

TABLE  30.     ANNUAL  ALLOWANCES  PAID   FROM   THE   MASSA- 
CHUSETTS TEACHERS  RETIREMENT  FUND 
1914-1920 


Teachers  whose  annual  allowances  were  as  specified: 


AMOUNT 

Total 

Females 

Males 

Number 

Per  Cent. 

Number 

Per  Cent. 

Number 

Per  Cent. 

Total,  .      .      . 

368 

100. 

323 

100. 

45 

100. 

$300,         .      .      . 

180 

48.9 

177 

54.8 

3 

6.7 

$301-350,       .      . 

32 

8.7 

32 

9.9 

- 



$351-400,       .      . 

43 

11.7 

40 

12.4 

3 

6.7 

$401-450,       .      . 

26 

7.1 

25 

7.7 

1 

2.2 

$451-500,       .      . 

19 

5.2 

14 

4.3 

5 

11.1 

$501-550,       .      . 

10 

2.7 

6 

1.8 

4 

8.9 

$551-600,       .      . 

18 

4.9 

11 

3.4 

7 

15.6 

$601-650,       .      . 

4 

1.1 

1 

.3 

3 

6.7 

$651-700,       .      . 

12 

3.3 

6 

1.9 

6 

13.3 

$701-750,       .      . 

8 

2.2 

4 

1.2 

4 

8.9 

$751-800,       .      . 

10 

2.7 

5 

1.6 

5 

11.1 

$801-850,       .      . 

6 

1.6 

2 

.6 

4 

8.9 

114 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  31.    AFTER  RETIREMENT  ALLOWANCES  RECEIVED  BY 
MASSACHUSETTS    WOMEN    TEACHERS 


AMOUNTS 

Teachers  whose  annual  allowances  were  as  specified: 

Number 

Per  Cent. 

State 

Boston 

State 

Boston 

Total,     .     .     . 

323 

1921 

100. 

100. 

$300,    .... 

177 

— 

54.8 



$301-5350,      .     . 

32 

56 

9.9 

29.2 

$351-$400,      .     . 

40 

46 

12.4 

24.0 

$401-$450,      .     . 

25 

27 

7.7 

14.1 

$451-$500,      .     . 

14 

38 

4.3 

19.8 

$501-$550,      .     . 

6 

9 

1.8 

4.7 

$551-$600,      .     . 

11 

16 

3.4 

8.3 

$601-$650,      .     . 

1 

— 

.3 



$651-8700,      .      . 

6 

— 

1.9 



$701-$750,      .      . 

4 

— 

1.2 



$751-$800,      .     . 

5 

— 

1.6 

— 

$801-$850,      .      . 

2 

— 

.6 



iSixty  teachers  who  have  been  granted  the  special  pension  of  $180,  and  50  teachers  who 
retired  for  disability  before  reaching  the  age  of  65  or  before  completing  30  years  of  service  are 
not  included  in  this  table. 


TABLE  32.    PENSION  RECEIVED  FROM  CITY  OF  BOSTON  BY  A 
SAMPLE  GROUP  OF  RETIRED  BOSTON  WOMEN  TEACHERS 


AMOUNT  OF  PENSION 


Number  of  Teachers 


Total,   .           .                      

1151 

None,                                                                .           . 

4 

Less  than  $150,    

1 

$150-200,            .           

28 

$201-250,       

1 

$251-300,       

3 

$301-350,                                              

17 

$351-400,       

20 

$401-450,       

17 

$451-500,                                                    .... 

12 

$501-550,       

5 

$551-600,       

5 

Unknown,      

2 

iSeven  of  these  teachers  retired  for  disability;  2  received  no  pension;  1  less  than  $150;  2 
from  $150-200;  1,  $250-300;  1,  an  unknown  amount. 


APPENDIX 


115 


TABLE  33.    EXPECTATION  OF  LIFE  OF  WOMEN  AT  DIFFERENT 

AGES  BASED  ON  THE  AMERICAN  EXPERIENCE  TABLE 

MORTALITY  RATES 


AGE 

Expectation  of  Life 

Age 

Expectation  of  Life 

55 

17.  40  years 

65 

11.  10  years 

56 

16.72 

66 

10.54 

57 

16.05 

67 

10.00 

58 

15.39 

68 

9.47 

59 

14.74 

69 

8.97 

60 

14.10 

70 

8.48 

61 

13.47 

71 

8.00 

62 

12.86 

72 

7.55 

63 

12.26 

73 

7.11 

64 

11.67 

74 

6.68 

75 

6.27 

TABLE  34.     AGES  AT   DEATH  OF  RETIRED   MASSACHUSETTS 

WOMEN  TEACHERS1 

1914^1920 


Number  of  years  between  Retirement  and  Death: 

AGES  AT  DEATH 

Num- 
ber 
of 

Less 

1  year 
and 

2  years 
and 

3  years 
and 

4  years 
and 

5  years 
and 

6  years 

Teach- 

than 

less 

less 

less 

less 

less 

and 

ers 

1  year 

than 

than 

than 

than 

than 

over 

2  years 

3  years 

4  years 

5  years 

6  years 

All  ages, 

59 

11 

10 

7 

10 

8 

8 

5 

60-64,    .     .     . 

16 

11 

3 

2 

— 

— 

— 

— 

65-69,    .     .     . 

15 

— 

6 

3 

3 

1 

2 

— 

70-74,    .     .      . 

12 

— 

— 

1 

3 

5 

2 

1 

75-79,    .     .     . 

11 

— 

1 

1 

2 

1 

3 

3 

80-84,    .     .      . 

4 

— 

— 

— 

2 

1 

— 

1 

85-89,    .     .     . 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

90  and  over, 

1 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

1 

—  . 

iData  from  the  records  of  the  Massachusetts  Teachers'  Retirement  Association. 


116 


APPENDIX 


QUESTIONNAIRE   FOR  THE  SELF-SUPPORTING 
WOMAN 

(Covering  the  period  of  full-time  employment) 

1.  Date  of  birth, . Birthplace: of  father, and  mother, 

2.  Conjugal    condition:    single, married, divorced  or  separated, 

widowed, _. 

3.  Education:  (write  "A"  for  attended,  or  "G"  for  graduated): 

grammar    school,... secondary    school, business    school, 

normal  school, college  or  university, graduate  or  professional, 

(state  kind  and  degree  received) 

4.  Have  you  received  an  income  other  than  from  earnings? If  possible 

state  the  sources  and  amounts, 

5.  Approximate  Annual  Earnings  while  Holding  Certain  Positions: 

(mention  only  those  held  for  six  months  or  longer) 

Dates  Annual 

From      To  Earnings 

6.  Uses  made  of  income  other  than  for  living  expenses,  or  permanent  invest- 

ments. 
(Place  checks  or  numbers  under  the  age  periods  when  the  uses  were  made.) 

Income  used  as  checked  in  stated  age  periods 
Kinds  of  uses 

Under  20     20-29     30-39     40-49     50-59  60  and  over 

Further  education,. 

Travel, 

Other  (state), 

Care  of  dependents  (If  under  14,  add  "C"  to  number;  if  over,  indicate  sex  with 
"M"  or  "W") 

Number  entirely 

supported, 

Number  partially 

supported, 


APPENDIX 


117 


7.     Permanent  savings  available  for  old  age  support. 


Savings  and  their  in- 
vestment 


Age  periods  when  savings  were  made  and  invested 
as  stated 


Amounts  saved, 

Forms  of  investment, 
as  insurance,  real  es- 
tate, stock,  pension,  etc. 

8.  Relations  with  family:  With  what  relatives  have  you  resided?    State  the 

years  covered  by  such  residence, 

9.  General  information  or  advice  to  other  women  about  methods  of  saving 

and  investing  earnings,  

QUESTIONNAIRE    FOR    SELF-SUPPORTING    WOMAN 

(Retired  from  Full-time  Employment) 

1.     Name  or  identification  number, 2.     Date  of  birth, 

3.  Birthplace  of  woman; of  her  father, and  mother, 

4.  Conjugal  condition :  single, married, divorced  or  separated, 

widowed, 

5.  Education:  (write  "A"  for  attended,  or  "G"  for  graduated): 

grammar  school, secondary  school, business  school, techni- 
cal school, college  or  university, graduate  or  professional, 

(state  kind  and  degree  received) 

6.  Date  of  retirement  from  regular,  full-time  employment, 

7.  Resources  at  the  Time  of  Retirement. 

General  description  Approx.  value 

A.  Property,  real  and  personal, 

B.  Income  from : 

Annuity, 

Investments, 

Other  sources, 

8.  Dependents:  relationship, 

Annual  contributions  to  their  support,. 


118  APPENDIX 

9.     Has  there  been  part-time  employment  since  retirement?     If  so,  state 
nature  and  approximate  annual  earnings, 


10.    Living  arrangements: 

Urban, .approximate    population    of, Rural, 

Keeping  house  for  herself, or  with  servant, in  a  separate 

room  house, a  single  room,  or  an room  apartment  (check  and 

add  descriptive  numbers) 
Boarding  with  relatives  (state  kinship), with  strangers, 

with  friends, 

If  in  a  family  group,  state  its  composition, 


Institution,  characterize  briefly, 

Other  arrangements, ~ 

11.  Health:  good, average, poor,  (state  specific  complaint  if  any) 

12.  Faculties:  sound, impaired,  (state  whether  hearing,  sight,  memory, 

etc.) 

13.  Occupations :    (describe  briefly), — 

14.  Recreations;..., —. 

15.  Comments:  (advice  to  other  women  based  on  experiences  of  the  person 

interviewed) - 


Name  of  investigation  agency, Date, 

Its  location :  City, — State, 

Signature  of  interviewer, 


TITLES  OF   UNPUBLISHED   TABLES 

The  high  cost  of  composition  has  prevented  the  publication  of  much  of 
the  statistical  material  tabulated  in  the  course  of  this  investigation.  Investi- 
gators who  wish  to  compare  their  data  with  those  on  which  our  discussions 
have  been  based  may  obtain  any  of  the  tables  in  the  following  list  by  paying 
the  cost  of  copying  and  mailing.  Inquires  should  be  addressed  to  the  Research 
Department,  264  Boylston  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

TABLE 
NUMBER  » 

1.  Nativities  of  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers  and  of  Their  Parents: 

A — Active  Massachusetts  Teachers  of  Twenty  or  More  Years  of  Serv- 
ice. 
B — Retired  Boston  Teachers. 

2.  Training  of  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers:    A — Active;  B — Retired. 

3.  Educational  Qualifications  of  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers,  January, 

1920. 

4.  Conjugal  Condition  of  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers. 

5.  Diseases  Reported  by  Boston  Retired  Women  Teachers. 

6.  Ages  of  Retirement  of  Boston  Women  Teachers  by  Years  of  Retirement. 

7.  Length  of  Service  of  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers  in  Town  or  City 

Where  Now  Employed,  Prior  to  September  1,  1919. 

8.  Numbers  and  Forms  of  Investments  Reported  by  a  Sample  Group  of 

Boston  Retired  Teachers. 

9.  Active  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers  Reporting  One  or  More  Invest- 

ments. 

10.  Investments  Made  by  174  Active  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers. 

11.  Number  of  Dependents  Cared  for  by  Active  Massachusetts  Women 

Teachers  in  Different  Age  Periods. 

12.  Number  of  Dependents  Supported  by  Active  Massachusetts  Women 

Teachers. 

13.  The  First  Salaries  Received  by  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers  who 

Began  Work  Between  1870  and  1900. 

14.  Average  Salaries  of  Women  Teachers   in  Massachusetts  Elementary 

Schools. 

15.  Average  Salaries  of  Women  Teachers  in  Massachusetts  High  and  Elemen- 

tary Schools. 

16.  Apportionment  of  Income  hi  The  Well -Rounded  Life. 

17.  Brookline  Teachers'  Budgets.    A— Single.    B— Married. 

18.  Inheritances  Received  by  Active  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers. 

19.  Number  of  Active  Massachusetts  Women  Teachers  Engaged  in  Paid 

Part-Time  Work. 


120  OLD-AGE   SUPPORT   OF  WOMEN   TEACHERS 

20.  Pensions  Received  from  City  of  Boston  by  Women  Teachers  by  Date  of 

Retirement,  1908-1920. 

21.  Pensions  Received  from  City  of  Boston  by  Women  Teachers  Retired  for 

Disability. 

22.  Contributions  with  Interest  Paid  by  Women  Teachers  to  Massachusetts 

Retirement  Board. 

23.  Methods  by  Which  a  Sample  Group  of  Retired  Boston  Teachers  Supple- 

mented Incomes  from  Earnings. 

24.  Sources  of  Supplementary  Income  of  Sample  Group  of  Retired  Boston 

Teachers. 


INDEX 


AFTER  RETIREMENT  PERIOD,  length 
of,  63-64,  115. 

AGE,  at  retirement,  of  Boston  teach- 
ers, 14-15;  of  State  teachers, 
16-17;  at  death,  65,  115;  when 
savings  for  old  age  are  made, 
29,  33-35,  111;  when  dependents 
are  helped,  29,  30-32,  69-74, 110. 

ANNUITIES,  bond,  35,  54-55,  96.  See 
PENSIONS. 

ARTS,  fine  as  avocations  or  recrea- 
tions in  old  age,  98-99. 

AVOCATIONS,  82-83,  98-99.  See 
PART-TIME  WORK. 

BILLINGS  FUND,  for  retired  Boston 
teachers,  59. 

BOSTON,  Mutual  Benefit  Society, 
39-40;  Teachers'  Retirement 
Fund  Association,  41-42;  Pen- 
sion Acts  of  1908  and  1910, 
42-43;  after-retirement  allow- 
ances, 49. 

CHARTS,  List  of,  8. 

CO-OPERATION,  in  obtaining  old-age 
protection,  74-75,  97-98. 

DEPENDENTS  OF  TEACHERS,  number 
having  dependents,  29-32,  69- 
74,  87-90,  110,  112;  relationship 
of,  72;  age  periods  when  care  was 
given,  29,  110;  amount  of  sup- 
port given,  112. 

DISABILITY,  allowances  for,  51-52, 
92-93. 

EARNINGS,  of  Massachusetts  teach- 
ers, amounts  of,  2,4-2,7. 


EDUCATION,  of  Massachusetts  teach- 
ers, 12-13;  age  periods  when 
investments  were  made  in,  28- 
30,  110. 

EXPENDITURES,  distribution  of,  25- 
36,  110-112.  See  DEPENDENTS, 
EDUCATION,  INVESTMENTS. 

FACULTIES,  condition  of  in  retired 
teachers,  18. 

GIFT  PENSIONS,  in  Boston,  42-43, 
92.  See  PENSIONS. 

HEALTH,    reports    of   disorders,    13; 

expenditures  to  promote,  32,  64. 
HOMES,    of    retired    teachers,    their 

location,  64r-70;  desire  for,  96-97. 

INHERITANCES,  effect  on  savings, 
32-33,  58. 

INSURANCE,  investment  of  savings 
in,  35,  96;  old  age,  90-93.  See 
PENSIONS,  ANNUITIES,  MASSA- 
CHUSETTS, INVESTMENTS. 

INVESTMENTS,  forms  of,  conservative 
character,  35-36,  93,  96-97. 

LEGISLATION,   establishing   teachers' 

pensions,  41-47. 
LENGTH  OF  LIFE,  of  teachers,  63-65, 

115.    See  AGE. 
LIVING    ARRANGEMENTS,    of   retired 

teachers,  69-70. 

MASSACHUSETTS,  Annuity  Guild,  40- 
41;  State  Pension  System,  43-44; 
After  Retirement  Allowances,  49. 


122 


INDEX 


MONEY,  changes  in  purchasing  power, 
25-26,  92;  need  of  stabilizing,  93. 

MORTALITY,  rates,  of  women,  Ameri- 
can Table,  115.  See  AGE, 
LENGTH  OP  LIFE. 

MUTUAL  BENEFIT  SOCIETIES,  among 
retired  teachers,  their  history, 
39-40. 

OCCUPATIONS,  of  retired  Boston 
teachers,  78-83;  98-99. 

OLD  AGE,  See  AGE,  INVESTMENTS, 
INSURANCE,  DEPENDENTS,  LIV- 
ING CONDITIONS,  OCCUPATIONS, 
ETC. 

PART-TIME  WORK,  to  supplement 
salaries  or  pensions,  60-61,  78- 
83.  See  AVOCATIONS. 

PENSIONS,  history  of,  39-47;  amounts 
received  by  Boston  teachers,  46, 
49,  50,  114;  by  State  teachers, 
49,  113,  114.  See  INSURANCE, 
BOSTON  AND  MASSACHUSETTS. 

PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS,  of 
Massachusetts  teachers,  12-13. 

QUESTIONNAIRES,  used  in  this  study, 
116-118. 


RETIRED  TEACHERS,  their  incomes, 
49-62;  living  conditions,  63-84. 
See  AGE,  PENSIONS,  HOMES, 
HEALTH,  OCCUPATIONS. 

SALARIES,  See  EARNINGS,  SAVINGS, 
INVESTMENTS,  MONEY,  PART- 
TIME  WORK. 

SAVINGS,  of  teachers  in  different  age 
periods,  27-38,  53-57,  93-97, 
110-111,  113;  constructive  plans 
for,  36-37.  See  INVESTMENTS, 
MONEY. 

SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION,  on  which 
the  report  is  based,  11. 

SERVICE,  length  of  in  schools,  18-23, 
109-111.  See  AGE. 

SOCIAL  interests  of  teachers,  77-78; 
social  service  as  an  avocation,  99. 

STANDARD  OF  LIVING,  of  retired 
teachers,  66-69. 

STORES,  study  of  older  women  in 
Boston  retail,  103-108. 

TABLES,  List  of  published,  9-10;  un- 
published, 119-120. 

THRIFT,  personal  variations  in,  93-94. 
See  SAVINGS,  INSURANCE,  IN- 
VESTMENTS. 


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AUG  23 1987 
MIIKC  AUG041987 
SEP  2  2 1992 


AUTODiSCCIRC  DEC  l5 -92 


50m-8,'26 


I  U    0  ID  F\ 

U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


